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Chemistry Forums for Students => Undergraduate General Chemistry Forum => Topic started by: Julie on March 19, 2004, 04:07:56 AM

Title: Oxygen ? Solid ?
Post by: Julie on March 19, 2004, 04:07:56 AM
This is kind of stupid to ask  ;D
Matter exist in 3 states : solid , liquid , gas
So can oxygen exist in solid form at a very very low temperature ??
Title: Re:Oxygen ? Solid ?
Post by: Mitch on March 19, 2004, 04:41:01 AM
Good Question, I actually don't know. Hmmm.... I wonder if webelements would have the answer.
Title: Re:Oxygen ? Solid ?
Post by: Mitch on March 19, 2004, 04:43:55 AM
Webelements says that solid Oxygen forms at 54.8K or -218.3 °C or-360.9 °F
Title: Re:Oxygen ? Solid ?
Post by: Julie on March 19, 2004, 11:28:13 PM
Wow ...
So other gases may also be in solid form at a very low teperature ?  ???
Title: Re:Oxygen ? Solid ?
Post by: Mitch on March 19, 2004, 11:33:37 PM
Yeah strange huh. Gregpawin recently told me that liquid helium is so weird that if you had it in a beaker it would climb up the walls and out of the beaker ??? ??? ???

You can go bug him with strange questions like that in the Physical Chemistry board he moderates. :)
Title: Re:Oxygen ? Solid ?
Post by: Julie on March 19, 2004, 11:49:58 PM
I wonder how cute will oxygen be in solid form ... lol  ;D
Liquid Helium will "climb" out of the beaker ??? It's really weird indeed !!
Title: Re:Oxygen ? Solid ?
Post by: Seymor-Omnis on March 20, 2004, 02:18:43 AM
I guess the "climbing" makes sense though, since hydrogen has a lower density than oxygen, i think... ;)
Title: Re:Oxygen ? Solid ?
Post by: jdurg on March 20, 2004, 09:06:57 PM
Yeah.  Apparantly liquid Helium disobeys many laws of physics as it really does not experience friction with other surfaces.  I wonder what color solid oxygen would be?  I'm guessing that it would be a bluish semi-metallic like substance due to it's location on the periodic table and the fact that liquid oxygen is blue.  (Liquid oxygen is really fun, but dangerous, to play with).  I know that liquid O2 is attracted to a magnet, and that it will condense on the outside of a metal container holding liquid nitrogen.  

I know that in recent years solid hydrogen was formed and it was found to be a metal.  Solid helium may be a bit tough to come by as it melts at about a degree above absolute zero.  
Title: Re:Oxygen ? Solid ?
Post by: Julie on March 20, 2004, 10:06:42 PM
I was chating with my friend and I asked her about this question : Can oxygen turns to solid at low temperature ?
She said gas is compressed to turn to liquid ...
So when liquid is being compressed ... I guess it will turns to solid ...  ;D
Liquid oxygen is blue ...This picture is from Webelement  ;D
Title: Re:Oxygen ? Solid ?
Post by: hmx9123 on April 16, 2004, 04:22:46 AM
Don't forget that 4th state of matter: plasma. :)

For a great look at liquid oxygen in action, check out the mirrors of George Gobel's old homepage from Purdue.  He burns 40 lbs of charcoal in 7 seconds with liquid oxygen.

And, yes, you can make lots of elements in solid form with low enough temperatures.  The really amusing one is argon--it's only got a few degrees of liquid range and I freeze it solid all the time in my liquid nitrogen trap.  Kind of funny to watch it melt and subsequently boil away, all well below freezing.
Title: Re:Oxygen ? Solid ?
Post by: AWK on April 16, 2004, 09:27:00 AM
Packing of solid oxygen in unit cell - space group C2/m, bond length in Angstrems.
Title: Re:Oxygen ? Solid ?
Post by: Limpet Chicken on June 11, 2004, 03:49:52 AM
Solid oxygen definately DOES exist, I was having a discussion some time ago on the properties of a weird green allotrope of phosphorus that apparently has properties similar to solid O2,
and as far as I know helium is the ONLY element that cannot be turned into a solid be ANY temperatures possible with todays technology, I imagine solid oxygen would be a pretty damn powerful oxidizer, and solid O3 to be absolutely obscene in it's oxidizing power ;D
Title: Re:Oxygen ? Solid ?
Post by: AWK on June 11, 2004, 04:06:22 AM
All gases, even helium can ne solidified.
Title: Re:helium solidified?
Post by: Limpet Chicken on June 11, 2004, 04:39:58 AM
Helium may in theory be able to be solidified, but I really don't think it has, or indeed CAN be done with todays technology, scientists have supercooled it down to a few billionths of a kelvin, and it still hasn't solidified, but it would be interesting to see what properties solid helium has,  I bet it would be one of the best superconductors known to man  ;D
Title: Re:Oxygen ? Solid ?
Post by: AWK on June 11, 2004, 05:00:55 AM
any gas can be solidified, even helium.
Title: Re:Oxygen ? Solid ?
Post by: Limpet Chicken on June 11, 2004, 05:10:06 AM
I never said it can't be done, only that it hasn't been done to best of my knowledge, and probably cannot be done with the technology we currently possess.
Title: Re:Oxygen ? Solid ?
Post by: AWK on June 11, 2004, 05:25:52 AM
Melting point for solid helium is 0.92 Kelvin (at normal pressure). This temperature can be easily achieved in labs where helium is liqudified (critical temperature about 5 Kelvins). Helium crystallizes in the closest packing mode.
Title: Re:Oxygen ? Solid ?
Post by: Limpet Chicken on June 11, 2004, 05:33:54 AM
I stand corrected, I just did a quick search, and it seems it's possible, http://pfwww.kek.jp/outline/instr/topog.html
the link mentions something called quantum crystal, is it possible that a fifth state of matter has been discovered?
Title: Re:Oxygen ? Solid ?
Post by: gregpawin on June 11, 2004, 10:57:58 AM
What's more of a concern with using liquid helium, after you've shelled out a few hundred bucks for a tank, is not leaving the top open.  All the other gases will form a layer of frozen air on top of the helium, yes frozen oxygen, nitrogen, and the rest.  Then you've got a problem.  Eventually, that helium's gonna warm up and expand.  If you don't do something soon, the thing's a huge bomb.  Usually, what's done is that they try to break through the crust with a metal pole at first, but if its too thick, they have to drill through the side of the tank, which I can't image how'd they'd avoid not freezing themselves when the liquid helium comes out.

What's interesting about oxygen, is that its paramagnetic.  It'll be attracted to magnetic fields.

What's interesting about hydrogen, I think its hydrogen, is that they believe there's a metallic form that comes after solidifying it.  They're waiting for it to turn from clear, to shiny like a metal, though I'm not so sure about the progress of that.
Title: Re:Oxygen ? Solid ?
Post by: Corvettaholic on June 11, 2004, 12:34:38 PM
On the subject of really cold gases... I have some experiments I would like try in the field of cooling using liquid nitrogen. I've heard its cheap and readily available, but where should I start my hunt and will a simple thermos work for buying some?
Title: Re:Oxygen ? Solid ?
Post by: gregpawin on June 11, 2004, 12:41:00 PM
I'm sure you can just look them up in the yellow pages.  You can hold the liquid itself in most common thermos but I don't think you can pull up and ask for some, like gas.  They'd want you to buy a considerable amount I would think, because the smaller the container, the faster its going to boil away.  I think it costs around a buck a liter.
Title: Re:Oxygen ? Solid ?
Post by: Limpet Chicken on June 11, 2004, 01:33:14 PM
I just HAVE to get me a tank of liquid nitrogen soon, for my phosphorus experiments ;D

The matallic hydrogen is made i think, is to have a STRONG tube, with a high explosive charge at each end, then an amount of liquid hydrogen in the middle with a metal projectile either side if the liquid H, when the HE's are simultaneously fired, it gets compressed enough to make hydrogen metal, I'm not sure if it STAYS metal though after exposure to normal pressure though.
Title: Re:Oxygen ? Solid ?
Post by: xALmoN on July 15, 2004, 07:26:46 AM
i'm sure the after the shockwave passes.. the solid probably melts then boils away . is expansion exothermic or endothermic again? i think its endothermic, right? wouldnt compressing it in a thick enough glass cylinder then cooling it be better? or am i not making any sense..