Liquid oxygen

Liquid oxygen — abbreviated LOx, LOX or Lox in the aerospace, submarine and gas industries — is one of the physical forms of elemental oxygen.

Physical properties

Liquid oxygen has a pale blue color and is strongly paramagnetic; it can be suspended between the poles of a powerful horseshoe magnet. Liquid oxygen has a density of 1.141 g/cm³ (1.141 kg/L or 1141 kg/m³) and is cryogenic with a freezing point of 54.36 K (−218.79 °C; −361.82 °F) and a boiling point of 90.19 K (−182.96 °C; −297.33 °F) at 101.325 kPa (760 mmHg). Liquid oxygen has an expansion ratio of 1:861 under 1 standard atmosphere (100 kPa) and 20 °C (68 °F), and because of this, it is used in some commercial and military aircraft as transportable source of breathing oxygen.

Because of its cryogenic nature, liquid oxygen can cause the materials it touches to become extremely brittle. Liquid oxygen is also a very powerful oxidizing agent: organic materials will burn rapidly and energetically in liquid oxygen. Further, if soaked in liquid oxygen, some materials such as coal briquettes, carbon black, etc., can detonate unpredictably from sources of ignition such as flames, sparks or impact from light blows. Petrochemicals, including asphalt, often exhibit this behavior.

Liquid Oxygen (supplement)

Liquid Oxygen is the name of a product that is a solution of hydrogen peroxide and other compounds including sodium chloride (common salt) that claims to help with "jet lag, fatigue, altitude sickness, headaches, hangovers, youthful skin, energy, and insomnia". Ken Harvey, a member of the World Health Organisation team that formulated criteria for the promotion of medicinal drugs and a member of Auspharm Consumer Health Watch, states that the product is "no more than salty water", and that most forms of water carry some dissolved oxygen. The Federal Trade Commission has prosecuted purveyors of such products for making "blatantly false and unsubstantiated health claims".

The product claims to have an effect through increasing the amount of oxygen in the body but this is unnecessary as oxygen is absorbed by the lungs via breathing.

See also

References