The mineralogy of Oxygen
| General Properties | |
|---|---|
| Symbol: | O |
| Atomic Number: | 8 |
| Standard atomic weight (Ar): | 15.9994(3) |
| Electron configuration: | [He] 2s2 2p4 |
| Photos | ||
|---|---|---|
     | ||
| < | Oxygen | > |
| Atomic Properties | |
|---|---|
| Electronegativity (Pauling scale): | 3.44 |
| Atomic Radius: | 48 pm |
| Ionic Radius: | 140 pm (-2) |
| Van der Waals Radius: | 152 pm |
| 1st Ionization energy: | 1314 kJ/mol |
| 1st Electron affinity: | -141 kJ/mol |
| Oxidation States: | -2,-1,1,2 |
| Physical Properties | |
|---|---|
| Standard State: | gas |
| Bonding Type: | diatomic |
| Melting Point: | 55 K |
| Boiling Point: | 90 K |
| Metal/Non-Metal: | nonmetal |
| Main isotopes of Oxygen | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Isotope | % in Nature | Half Life | Decay type | Decay product |
| 15O | synthetic | 122.24s | β+ | 15N |
| 16O | 99.76% | stable | ||
| 17O | 0.039% | stable | ||
| 18O | 0.201% | stable | ||
| Main ions of Oxygen | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Name | Ion | Example minerals | ||
| oxide | O2- | Quartz, Hematite | ||
| Other Information | |
|---|---|
| Year Discovered: | 1772 |
| Discovered By: |  Carl Wilhelm Scheele |
| Named For: | from Greek: oxys - "acid" and -genes - "producer" |
| CPK color coding: | #FF0D0D |
| External Links: | WikipediaWebElementsLos Alamos National LaboratoryTheodore Gray's PeriodicTable.com |
| Simple Compounds | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Fluorides | oxygen difluoride | OF2 | +2 |
| Oxygen as a chromophore in minerals and gems | |
|---|---|
| Chromophore | Description |
| O- | Univalent oxygen ions replacing fluorine are believed to cause the smoky tones in some topaz. |
| Mineral Diversity of Oxygen | |
|---|---|
| 1. Elements | 3 valid mineral species |
| 2. Sulfides And Sulfosalts | 30 valid mineral species |
| 3. Halides | 158 valid mineral species |
| 4. Oxides | 831 valid mineral species |
| 5. Carbonates | 293 valid mineral species |
| 6. Borates | 170 valid mineral species |
| 7. Sulfates | 616 valid mineral species |
| 8. Phosphates, Arsenates, Vanadates | 1197 valid mineral species |
| 9. Silicates | 1595 valid mineral species |
| 10. Organic Compounds | 64 valid mineral species |
| Total: | 4957 valid species containing essential Oxygen |
| Geochemistry of Oxygen | |
|---|---|
| Goldschmidt classification: | Lithophile |
| O2- is commonly concentrated in residual soils and sediments. | |
| O2- forms minerals with Mg2+. | |
| O2- forms minerals with Al3+, Ti4+ and Zr4+. | |
| O2- forms minerals with Si4+. | |
| O2- forms minerals with Cu+. | |
| Elemental Abundance for Oxygen | ||
|---|---|---|
| Crust (CRC Handbook) | 4.61 x 10-1 | mass fraction, kg/kg |
| Crust (Kaye & Laby) | 3.7 x 10-1 | mass fraction, kg/kg |
| Crust (Greenwood) | 4.55000 x 10-1 | mass fraction, kg/kg |
| Sea Water (CRC Handbook) | 8.57 x 10-1 | mass per volume fraction, kg/L |
| Sea Water (Kaye & Laby) | 8.8 x 10-1 | mass per volume fraction, kg/L |
| Atmosphere (NASA) | 20.946% | as O2 |
| The Sun (Kaye & Laby) | 2.4 x 101 | atom mole fraction relative to Si=1 |
| Solar System (Kaye & Laby) | 2.4 x 101 | atom mole fraction relative to Si=1 |
| Solar System (Ahrens) | 2.38 x 101 (10%) | atom mole fraction relative to Si=1 (% uncertainty) |
| Element association of Oxygen in the Mineral World | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| This table compares the known valid mineral species listed listed with Oxygen and the other elements listed based on the official IMA formula. Note that unlike other sections on this page this includes non-essential elements. The first data column contains the total number of minerals listed with Oxygen and the element listed for that row. The second data column lists this number as a percentage of all minerals listed with Oxygen. The final data column compares this percentage against the percentage of all minerals that contain the element listed in each row. Click on a heading to sort. |
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| Nitrogen << Oxygen >> Fluorine | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Most widespread minerals containing Oxygen |
|---|
| This list of minerals containing Oxygen is built from the mindat.org locality database. This is based on the number of localities entered for mineral species and is therefore slanted towards minerals interesting to collectors with less coverage of common rock-forming-minerals so it does not give an undistorted distribution of Oxygen mineral species. It is more useful when comparing rare species rather than common species. |
| Name | Formula | Crystal System | Mindat Localities |
|---|---|---|---|
| Quartz | SiO2 | Trigonal | 76147 |
| Calcite | CaCO3 | Trigonal | 35509 |
| Muscovite | KAl2(AlSi3O10)(OH)2 | Monoclinic | 22032 |
| Magnetite | Fe2+Fe3+2O4 | Isometric | 19074 |
| Hematite | Fe2O3 | Trigonal | 18351 |
| Malachite | Cu2(CO3)(OH)2 | Monoclinic | 14797 |
| Baryte | BaSO4 | Orthorhombic | 14217 |
| Dolomite | CaMg(CO3)2 | Trigonal | 12233 |
| Albite | Na(AlSi3O8) | Triclinic | 11920 |
| Epidote | (CaCa)(AlAlFe3+)O[Si2O7][SiO4](OH) | Monoclinic | 10542 |
| Photos |
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| Localities with greatest number of different Oxygen mineral species |
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| Significant minerals containing Oxygen |
|---|
| More than 70% of all known mineral species contain oxygen and the vast majority of the earth's crust is made up of silicates, oxides and carbonates - all of which contain oxygen. Some important examples are listed below: |
| Name | Formula | Crystal System |
|---|---|---|
| Quartz | SiO2 | Trigonal |
| Hematite | Fe2O3 | Trigonal |
| Calcite | CaCO3 | Trigonal |
| Spinel | MgAl2O4 | Isometric |
| Corundum | Al2O3 | Trigonal |
| Forsterite | Mg2SiO4 | Orthorhombic |
| Albite | Na(AlSi3O8) | Triclinic |
| Anorthite | Ca(Al2Si2O8) | Triclinic |
| Photos |
|---|
Spotted a mistake/omission? - These pages are a work in progress, so please send all comments/corrections to jolyon@mindat.org. Thank you.
Constants and physical property data from:
David R. Lide (ed.), CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics, 85th Edition. CRC Press. Boca Raton, Florida (2005).
Kaye and Laby Tables of Physical & Chemical Constants (2005). Section 3.1.3, Abundances of the elements
A. Earnshaw, N. Greenwood, Chemistry of the Elements, 2nd edition, Butterworth-Heinemann, (1997)
Thomas J. Ahrens (ed.), Global Earth Physics : A Handbook of Physical Constants, American Geophysical Union (1995)
L.B. Railsback, An Earth Scientist's Periodic Table of the Elements and Their Ions : Geology 31:9 p737-740 (2003)
Emsley, J. Nature's Building Blocks: An A-Z Guide to the Elements. New York: Oxford University Press (2001)
