Periodic Table of Elements

02/05/09

O

Oxygen

Atomic Number

8

Atomic Symbol

O

	Name	Oxygen
	Meaning	Name is from the Greek 'oxys' + 'gene' meaning 'acid former'

Group

Non-metals

Atomic Weight

15.9994

Density, g/cubic cm at STP

0.001429

Melting Point, °C

-222.65

Boiling Point, °C, 1 atm

-183

Naturally Occurring Isotopes

O-16, O-17, O-18

Discoverer

Priestley/Scheele

Year

1774

Ionization Energy, eV

13.6181

Configuration

1s2 2s2 2p4

Description

Colorless, odorless gas at STP

Information Oxygen is one of the most important elements of all - without it, it would not be possible to fuel many of the chemical reactions responsible for maintaining life. Oxygen gas is very reactive, and reacts with other metallic elements to form many of the rocks in the earth's crust. Joseph's Element Collection Joseph has not yet obtained a sample of Oxygen. References: Holden, Norman E. (March 30, 2004). "History of the origin of the chemical elements and their discoverers." National Nuclear Data Center. Retrieved October 7, 2005 from http://www.nndc.bnl.gov/content/elements.html "List of elements by boiling point." (September 22, 2005). Wikipedia. Retrieved October 9, 2005 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_elements_by_boiling_point "List of elements by density." (September 22, 2005). Wikipedia. Retrieved October 9, 2005 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_elements_by_density "List of elements by melting point." (September 22, 2005). Wikipedia. Retrieved October 9, 2005 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_elements_by_melting_point "NIST chemistry webBook." (2005). National Institute of Standards and Technology. Retrieved October 6, 2005 from http://webbook.nist.gov/chemistry/ Zucker, M.A.; Kishore, A. R.; Sukumar, R.; and Dragoset, R. A. (July 2005). "Elemental data index."  National Institute of Standards and Technology. Retrieved October 7, 2005 from http://physics.nist.gov/PhysRefData/Elements/cover.html