By Team Aakash Byju's

Interesting Facts About Oxygen

Properties

Oxygen gas is Colorless (in the air), Odorless and Tasteless but yet it can be seen as pale blue when it is in the liquid or the solid state.

Other Colors Phases α-phase: light blue, β & γ-phase: faint blue, δ-phase: orange, ε-phase: dark-red to black.

In the ζ-phase, oxygen looks like a metal but in reality, oxygen is a non-metal.

The ζ-phase

Different Forms

The divalent molecule O2 is oxygen gas, the trivalent molecule is Ozone, O3, both are other forms of pure oxygen.

To Light the Fire

The purest form of oxygen may not burn, but oxygen is a must for combustion, for example, we cannot burn a candle for a longer time in an airtight container.

Magnetism It is weakly attracted to an externally applied magnetic field. Thus oxygen is paramagnetic.

The bands of colored lights in the sky are bright red & yellow-green due to the presence of excited oxygen.

Rare Color

Before the C-12 isotope of carbon, it was oxygen whose atomic weight was used as a standard for the other elements.

Importance of Atomic Weight

Oxygen is made in stars that are around 5 times heavier than the Sun and is the third-largest element in the universe.

Existence

Normal, fresh water contains about 6.04 milliliters of dissolved oxygen per liter whereas seawater only contains about 4.95 milliliters of oxygen.

Oxygen in Water