this post was submitted on 04 Sep 2023
-1 points (33.3% liked)

Ask Lemmy

26996 readers
1772 users here now

A Fediverse community for open-ended, thought provoking questions

Please don't post about US Politics. If you need to do this, try !politicaldiscussion@lemmy.world


Rules: (interactive)


1) Be nice and; have funDoxxing, trolling, sealioning, racism, and toxicity are not welcomed in AskLemmy. Remember what your mother said: if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. In addition, the site-wide Lemmy.world terms of service also apply here. Please familiarize yourself with them


2) All posts must end with a '?'This is sort of like Jeopardy. Please phrase all post titles in the form of a proper question ending with ?


3) No spamPlease do not flood the community with nonsense. Actual suspected spammers will be banned on site. No astroturfing.


4) NSFW is okay, within reasonJust remember to tag posts with either a content warning or a [NSFW] tag. Overtly sexual posts are not allowed, please direct them to either !asklemmyafterdark@lemmy.world or !asklemmynsfw@lemmynsfw.com. NSFW comments should be restricted to posts tagged [NSFW].


5) This is not a support community.
It is not a place for 'how do I?', type questions. If you have any questions regarding the site itself or would like to report a community, please direct them to Lemmy.world Support or email info@lemmy.world. For other questions check our partnered communities list, or use the search function.


Reminder: The terms of service apply here too.

Partnered Communities:

Tech Support

No Stupid Questions

You Should Know

Reddit

Jokes

Ask Ouija


Logo design credit goes to: tubbadu


founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
 

Exactly as the title asks.

Pure oxygen is generally represented as O2 yet oxygen is an element of the periodic table. Why is it O2 and not just O?

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] ThatWeirdGuy1001@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago (2 children)

So simply because it's so reactive the most common form is oxygen paired with itself?

[–] WhoRoger@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

Not just with itself, also with other elements. Say, you won't find pure iron in the wild either, because normally it reacts with oxygen so well.

But yea oxygen needs to pair with something because its outer electron shell is incomplete. So pairing with another oxygen atom is likely, but also with whatever else is available - nitrogen, iron, whatever.

Most elements are found in molecules really, with the exception of noble gasses like Helium. And some are less reactive than others.

[–] ElPussyKangaroo@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

This is an ELI5 explanation. Well done💯💯