Solid oxygen, very special

2006/11/01 Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Fisika
• Kimika

In nature there is no solid oxygen. This is an ambient pressure gas, but in the laboratory the pressure allows obtaining other phases: high pressure oxygen is a blue liquid (above 5.4 PG, 54,000 times the environmental pressure) and the red solid at high pressure (above 10 PG). This solid red was discovered in 1979, but now they have seen its structure. Apparently, oxygen molecules (O2) are grouped into four in _the basic structure, adopting a form similar to that of a crushed cube.