Oxygen - Element of the Week from 4/9 - 4/19

  

           Finally! I am bring you element number 8 - Oxygen! This element actually has a rather complex history. Multiple people had produced oxygen prior to its "discovery," but it is Joseph Priestly, an English chemist who immigrated to the United States in the 1700s, who receives the credit. Both Priestly and Carl Wilhelm Scheele produced oxygen from mercuric oxide, which is a molecule comprised of one mercury atom and one oxygen atom. Priestly called his "dephlogisticated air" and Scheele called his "fire air."

            The name "oxygen" comes from the greek words "oxys" and "genes," which together mean "acid forming." Antoine Lavoisier, a French chemist, gave it this name because he believed that it was a necessary element for the formation of acids.

            Oxygen is the third most abundant element in the universe, and the Earth's atmosphere is comprised of 21% oxygen. Oxygen is a component of hundreds of organic compounds, and nearly all living things (that we know of) require oxygen for life. Combustion is also a process that generally needs oxygen. Humans, for example, are made of 2/3 oxygen!

            Some of the uses of oxygen are: as rocket fuel, a protective layer for the earth, in the process of smelting iron into steel, and many more. To make rocket fuel, liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen are combined. The Ozone layer, which is made of O₃, is a thin layer of gas that protects the Earth from the ultraviolet radiation of the sun. When smelting iron, oxygen is injected into the molten iron ore, which helps remove impurities. Be it sulfur or carbon that is in excess.