Oxygen

After you read this, you’ll know why you can’t spell periodic table without ‘O’. Oxygen is a nonmetal. It is highly reactive and often found in the form of a gas. It’s tasteless, odorless, and colorless. However, it is a vital resource of living organisms and is a necessary part of cellular respiration in plants. It is a diatomic element, meaning that when they are not part of a compound, two oxygens bond together.

                Oxygen is basically the source of sustaining life. We breathe in oxygen every moment of our lives. It fuels our bodies with the energy to function. Oxygen is also a part of water which is necessary for life and is found in our bodies and covers our planet. Besides being found in water, oxygen is also found in sugars, which are also vital for our bodies. (Also, sugar makes ice cream taste good.)

                Oxygen was first discovered in 1772 by French scientist Carl Wilhelm Scheele. He called it ‘fire air’. Two years later, it was discovered by Englishman Joseph Priestley, who published his findings 3 years before Scheele did. Oxygen first got its name and was recognized as an element by Antoine Lavoisier in 1775.

                Oxygen is found everywhere. It’s in our lungs, in the air we breathe, in the water we drink, and in the sugar in ice cream.  It’s also in our atmosphere. You don’t need to mine for oxygen, because it’s all around you. It’s as easy as that.

                Why do we need oxygen? It is in everything we do; it’s in air, sugars, our atmosphere, and many other things. Without oxygen in our daily life we wouldn’t even exist. You couldn’t breathe, which is how we function. We need the oxygen in our atmosphere because that is where our breathing air is produced, and our ozone protects us from over-radiation from the sun. If you haven’t noticed yet there is no life on any other planet except Earth because there is no oxygen in their atmospheres. Still don’t think oxygen is important? We dare you to try to hold your breath and reread this whole post.