| 1) Element name: Oxygen
2) Element symbol: O
3) Number of electrons, protons, and neutrons: 8 electron, 8 proton, 8 neutrons
4) Atomic number: 8
5) Atomic mass: 15.9994
6) Characteristics: Oxygen in a colorless, odorless, tasteless, slightly magnetic, nontoxic gas. It can be condensed to a pale blue liquid that is strongly magnetic. Pale blue solid oxygen is produced by compression of the liquid.
7) History: Oxygen was first discovered in 1774 by the British chemist Joseph Priestly and, independently, by the Swedish chemist Carl Wilhelm Scheele. It was shown to be an elemental gas by the French chemist Laurnt Lavisier in his classic experiments on combustion. Three things made from the element: - large amounts of oxygen are used in temperature welding torches. - is administered to patients whose breathing is impaired and also to persons in aircraft flying at high altitudes, where poor oxygen concentration cannot support normal respiration. - oxygen -enriched air is used in open - hearth furnaces for steel manufacture.
8) Isotopes: Three stable isotopes of oxygen are known. Oxygen-16 (atomic mass 16) is the most abundant. It comprises 99.76 % of ordinary oxygen and was used in determination of atomic weights until the 1960's.
9) It forms, called oxides, with practically all of the elements, including some of the noble gases. The rate of reaction, called oxidation, varies with different elements. Ordinary combustion, or burning, is a very rapid form of oxidation It spontaneous combustion, the heat evolved by the oxidation reaction is sufficiently great to raise the temperature of the substance to the point where flames result.
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