I understand oxygen atoms are joined in pairs?

Question

What hapens when this pair is in contact with another oxygen pair(molecule i think). Do they just bounce off each other or are they joined in some way. What as happened to this pairing when a single oxygen atom is joined to two hydrogen atoms to form water. Also if the atmosphere is 80% nitrogen and 20% oxygen (approx), is this air mixture classed as a compound?
Sorry to ask questions out of my depth, but it is distantly related to what I am studying. Thanks.

Answer 1

collisions between atoms can cause 1 of a few different results. the result depends greatly on the environment surrounding the collision (pressure, temperature, etc) most of the time they bounce off each other releasing a small amount of heat. it is also possible for the collision to happen at just the right moment during the electrons path around the nucleus which may result in the creation of ozone (O3) and monoxide (O). the same forces that denote the reaction (or effect) of these collisions also act as the intermolecular forces that bond hydrogen and oxygen together to make water. in essence, the atoms are trying to attain a balance in their charges. oxygen needs 2 electrons to attain the charge balance. each hydrogen atom needs to either remove an electron or receive an electron to balance the charge. that is the basic "cause" of the formation of a water molecule.
with regards to the atmospheric question: the presence of nitrogen, oxygen (and all the other gases that make up our atmosphere) are in fact a mixture. the atoms exist in the same vessel (the atmosphere surrounding the earth) but do not directly interact with each other. actually they do interact with collisions and occasional bonding, but at such a small frequency, that we say they do not interact.

Answer 2

Oxygen in the air is in pairs and they are called molecules. They are chemically joined by something called bonds.

When an Oxygen molecule collides with another Oxygen molecule they just bounce off each other.

The Oxygen in water, H2O, is in another compound. Compounds are made by breaking bonds and forming new ones. Single Oxygen atoms do not wander around alone.

Air is a mixture about 80% Nitrogen molecules, N2, and 20% Oxygen molecules. It is not a compound.

Answer 3

You can think of an atom as a nucleus surrounded by a circular slot car track in which orbit the electrons these are called electron shells.

Oxygen has two spare slots that aren't occupied by other electrons so it shares two cars with another oxygen atom so the two have a full compliment of electrons - a full electron shell.

In water each of the two hydrogen atoms share one electron each with the oxygen. Hence the oxygen now has a full shell and so does the hydrogen.

It is this exchange of electrons that bond the atoms together in a molecule.

The number of electrons required to fill the shell is known as the valency. The valency of Oxygen is 2, Hydrogen 1 and Nitrogen 3

The oxygen and nitrogen in out atmosphere is just a mixture. They are not chemically bound so they are just a compound.

Answer 4

Depends on how the molecules collide and whether they do so with enough energy to force a reaction. If so, you can see the formation, as someone else mentioned, of ozone, leaving behind a single oxygen atom, which can then react with another oxygen molecule to form a second molecule of ozone.

The air mixture is not classified as a compound, since there is no bonding taking place between the nitrogen and oxygen molecules (and the traces of other elements present in air). It is simply a mixture.

Answer 5

If you have a pair of oxygen molcules near each other they will interact through van der waals forces. This is a very weak force resulting from temporary changes in the locations of charges on the molecules. Because this force is so weak the molecules will only remain nearby to each other for a very short amount of time.

When oxygen and hydrogen are in each others presence it is very simple to trigger their reaction, such as a small flame. For a reaction to produce water you need two hydrogen molecules to every oxygen molecule.

Finally air is not a compound. Air would be properly referred to as a mixture.

As an aside I'm sure you're aware of ozone. This is a molecule which consists of 3 oxygen atoms. Thus oxygen does not always form pairs.

Answer 6

The bonded Oxygen would bounce of each other. This action is what creates pressure. When a an O atom forms water the bond is simply broken. the other O atom that now has a charge seek somethin to bound with , mayber H to form water or O2 to form ozone. Ive never heard of the atmosphere of being a compound, proably because there are different types of gases not just one compound

Answer 7

nothing happens there is no reaction they will never collide in such a way the other oxygen atom also joins with 2 hydrogen it will never really go seperate and if it dose it rarley joins with more oxygen to for ozone or 3 oxygen atoms but there are certain circumstances for this its been a while since i have studied this no its not a compound as such its just a mixture of gasses that for out atmosphere its not actually called a compund hope i helped a little

Answer 8

if 2 molecules of oxygen come near each other they repel each other like 2 positive ends of magnets.

compounds are atoms that are chemically linked to each other so the oxygen in the air is oxygen molecules ( 2 oxygen atoms), this is a stable bond and it does not generally react with the nitrogen in the air. the nitrogen is a nitrogen molecule made up of 2 nitrogen atoms it is also not very reactive.