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πŸ§ͺ Science βš—οΈ Matter and chemistry

Oxygen

Oxygen

πŸ“– In short

Oxygen is a gas with no color or smell, but it's one of the most important things for life. We breathe it in with every breath, almost all animals need it to live, and fire needs it to burn. Its chemical symbol is the letter O.

🀩 Did you know?

  • Oxygen's atomic number is 8.
  • Oxygen makes up about a fifth of the air.
  • Oxygen is the most plentiful element in the Earth's crust and in your body.
  • Scientists discovered oxygen about 250 years ago.

πŸ”Ž Find out more

🌟 Where does it come from?

Plants make oxygen in their leaves when they make their food from sunlight, and they release it into the air. Tiny plants in the seas make a large share of it too.

πŸ” How do we use it?

When we breathe, blood takes oxygen from the lungs and carries it to all the body's cells, which use it to burn food and get energy.

πŸ’‘ In water too

Water contains oxygen, since a water molecule has an oxygen atom. And fish take in the oxygen dissolved in water with their gills.

🎯 Oxygen helps the sick

Hospitals have cylinders of pure oxygen to help patients who find it hard to breathe. Astronauts and divers carry oxygen with them too.

🧩 Test yourself

1 What makes oxygen in nature?

2 What is oxygen's chemical symbol?

3 Oxygen's atomic number is ?? .

4 Which picture shows β€œOxygen”?

πŸ§ͺ Discover more

πŸ“· Picture sources: Wikimedia Commons