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The word oxygen in the literature typically refers to the most common oxygen allotrope, elemental/diatomic oxygen (O 2), as it is a common product or reactant of many biogeochemical redox reactions within the cycle. [2] Processes within the oxygen cycle are considered to be biological or geological and are evaluated as either a source (O 2 ...
Oxygen evolution is the chemical process of generating elemental diatomic oxygen (O 2) by a chemical reaction, usually from water, the most abundant oxide compound in the universe. Oxygen evolution on Earth is effected by biotic oxygenic photosynthesis, photodissociation, hydroelectrolysis, and thermal decomposition of various oxides and oxyacids.
The oxygen-evolving complex (OEC), also known as the water-splitting complex, is a water-oxidizing enzyme involved in the photo-oxidation of water during the light reactions of photosynthesis. [3] OEC is surrounded by 4 core proteins of photosystem II at the membrane-lumen interface.
The ocean plays a key role in the water cycle as it is the source of 86% of global evaporation. [2] The water cycle involves the exchange of energy, which leads to temperature changes. When water evaporates, it takes up energy from its surroundings and cools the environment. When it condenses, it releases energy and warms the environment.
Water can be broken down into its constituent hydrogen and oxygen by metabolic or abiotic processes, and later recombined to become water again. While the water cycle is itself a biogeochemical cycle, flow of water over and beneath the Earth is a key component of the cycling of other biogeochemicals. [8]
Free oxygen is produced in the biosphere through photolysis (light-driven oxidation and splitting) of water during photosynthesis in cyanobacteria, green algae, and plants. During oxidative phosphorylation in cellular respiration, oxygen is reduced to water, thus closing the biological water-oxygen redox cycle.
Oxygen saturation (medicine), The percent of hemoglobin saturated by oxygen, usually in arterial blood. Water oxygenation, the process of increasing the oxygen saturation of the water; Dioxygen complex, the chemical details of how metals bind oxygen; Great Oxygenation Event, an ancient event that led to the rise of oxygen within our atmosphere
Oxygen began building up in the prebiotic atmosphere at approximately 1.85 Ga during the Neoarchean-Paleoproterozoic boundary, a paleogeological event known as the Great Oxygenation Event (GOE). At current rates of primary production, today's concentration of oxygen could be produced by photosynthetic organisms in 2,000 years. [4]