Liquid oxygen

Liquid oxygen is a special form of the gas oxygen that has been cooled until it becomes a liquid. It looks clear and pale blue, almost like water. People often call it LOX or LOXygen for short.

Liquid oxygen is very important because it helps things burn. It was first used in 1926 by a scientist named Robert H. Goddard in the world’s first liquid-fueled rocket. Even today, liquid oxygen is used in rockets and other machines that need a strong burning power.

Because it is a liquid, it can be stored and moved more easily than oxygen gas, which makes it very useful for space travel and other technologies. It works as an oxidizer, meaning it helps other materials burn better.

Physical properties

Liquid oxygen looks clear and pale cyan. It is strongly paramagnetic, which means it can stick between the poles of a powerful horseshoe magnet. It is very cold, freezing at 54.36 K (−218.79 °C; −361.82 °F) and boiling at 90.19 K (−182.96 °C; −297.33 °F).

Liquid oxygen can make things catch fire quickly. Some materials covered in it can explode easily from small sparks or hits. It is also used in airplanes as a portable oxygen source because it grows a lot when it turns back into a gas.

Uses

Liquid oxygen is used in industry and medicine. It is made by separating oxygen from air using special equipment.

It is very important for space travel. Liquid oxygen helps rockets fly by burning with fuels like liquid hydrogen or kerosene. It was first used in the very first liquid-fueled rocket made in 1926. Many rockets today, from different countries, still use liquid oxygen to power their journeys into space.

See also: Liquid rocket propellant

History

By 1845, a scientist named Michael Faraday had turned most gases into liquids. But six gases could not be turned into liquids. These were called "permanent gases." They included oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen, carbon monoxide, methane, and nitric oxide.

Later, in 1877, two scientists, Louis Paul Cailletet in France and Raoul Pictet in Switzerland, made the first tiny drops of liquid air. Then, in 1883, two Polish professors, Zygmunt Wróblewski and Karol Olszewski, created the first measurable amount of liquid oxygen.