Inorganic chemistryLesson 2 of 2 in the course Representative Metals, Metalloids, and Nonmetals

Oxygen, Oxides, Hydroxides, and Inorganic Oxyacids

5 flashcards · 5 quiz questions · 5 match pairs · 5 fill-in sentences · English

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Summary

Oxygen is abundant on Earth and is essential to life, industry, and many chemical reactions. This lesson introduces where oxygen occurs, its physical properties, its role in respiration and photosynthesis, and the contrasting effects of ozone in different parts of the atmosphere.

Oxygen is the most abundant element in Earth’s crust by mass: about 50% of the crust consists of oxygen combined with other elements, especially silicon. Oxygen makes up about 20% of the mass of air, where it occurs mainly as diatomic oxygen, O₂, and to a much smaller extent as ozone, O₃. Water is about 89% oxygen by mass. Oxygen is also a major component of plants and animals, combined with carbon, hydrogen, and nitrogen.

All flashcards

How is most commercial oxygen separated from air?
Air is liquefied and then warmed; nitrogen vaporizes before oxygen because it has a lower boiling point.
How do stratospheric and tropospheric ozone differ?
Stratospheric ozone absorbs harmful ultraviolet radiation; tropospheric ozone is a toxic component of smog.
What distinguishes a superoxide ion?
It is an oxygen pair with a total charge of −1 and an average oxygen oxidation state of −½.
Why can excess hydroxide dissolve some metal hydroxide precipitates?
Some metals form soluble complex ions with excess hydroxide, as aluminum does.
Why does phosphorous acid have only two readily ionizable hydrogens?
Its third hydrogen is bonded directly to phosphorus and is not readily ionized.

Quiz questions

  1. What is the oxidation state of each oxygen atom in a peroxide?Answer: −1
  2. What occurs at the anode during chlor-alkali electrolysis?Answer: Chloride ions lose electrons and form chlorine gas.
  3. Which transformation is central to the Ostwald process for making nitric acid?Answer: Ammonia is oxidized through nitrogen oxides to nitric acid.
  4. How do sulfuric acid’s two ionizations in water differ?Answer: The first is essentially complete; the second is incomplete.
  5. What is aqua regia?Answer: A mixture of concentrated nitric acid and hydrochloric acid in a 1:3 ratio.

Based on Chemistry 2e by Paul Flowers, Klaus Theopold, Richard Langley, William R. Robinson, PhD (OpenStax), licensed CC BY 4.0. Adapted into a summary, flashcards and quizzes.

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