
Gloria and her best friends, Rose and Frank Galigani, are on vacation in the Big Apple. Ozone in Earth's stratosphere plays a helpful role by blocking most of the harmful UV radiation from the Sun, while ozone in the troposphere is a hazardous pollutant. New York City welcomes Gloria Lamerino and her husband, homicide detective Matt Gennaro, in The Oxygen Murder, the eighth installment in Camille Minichino's acclaimed Periodic Table Mystery series. A very reactive element, oxygen (O) belongs to the non-metals family in the periodic table which consists of elements such as carbon (C). Oxygen can also form a molecule of three atoms, which is known as ozone (O 3). Plants both use oxygen (during respiration) and produce it (via photosynthesis). Oxygen is generated during photosynthesis by plants and many types of microbes.

We humans, along with many other creatures, need oxygen in the air we breathe to stay alive. Oxygen plays a critical role in respiration, the energy-producing chemistry that drives the metabolisms of most living things. Oxygen is a highly reactive nonmetallic element and forms compounds with most elements except the noble gases Helium and Neon. Oxygen from photosynthetic microbes eventually built up in the atmosphere, drastically changing our planet's environment and the history of life in the process. Microbes that produce their food via photosynthesis generate oxygen as a by-product. Early in our planet's history, the atmosphere had almost no oxygen. Oxygen is used in oxyacetylene welding, as an oxidant for rocket fuel, and in methanol and ethylene oxide production. Oxygen forms a chemical compound (O2) of two atoms which is a. Pure oxygen is frequently used to help breathing in patients with respiratory ailments. This hasn't always been the case, though. Oxygen is a chemical element with an atomic number of 8 (it has eight protons in its nucleus). Oxygen atoms are very reactive, and are incorporated into many common chemical compounds, such as water (H 2O), carbon dioxide (CO 2), carbon monoxide (CO), sulfur oxides (SO 2 and SO 3), and nitrogen oxides (NO and NO 2).Ībout 21% of Earth's atmosphere is oxygen. In the colored models, oxygen is traditionally shown as red. Oxygen forms a chemical compound (O 2) of two atoms which is a colorless gas at normal temperatures and pressures.įour representations chemists use for molecular oxygen.

Oxygen is a chemical element with an atomic number of 8 (it has eight protons in its nucleus).
