Chemistry help!! Why is oxygen considered O2 instead of O? Chemistry!!!?

Question

I saw that oxygen was two part oxygen, why isnt it one part? You now like with the atoms and stuff.

Answer 1

oxygen is reactive atom & it completes its octet by sharing electrons with other oxygen atom. that is why generally oxygen is not found as atom.

Answer 2

Because oxygen is a diatomic molecule just as all of the halogens listed under group 7, I believe such as N2. I believe that the exception to the rule is hydrogen which is not included within the list but is also considered to be H2. Di = 2, get it.

Answer 3

Atoms do not like to have unpaired electrons O on its own would have two  unpaired electrons and would react with anything around. So if you want just oxygen you have to have two so they can pair up electrons. O3 (ozone) is also a fairly stable allotrope of oxygen.

Of course some gases don't have that problem such as Argon which goes around on its own.

Answer 4

generally, in diatomic molecule it is to pair up all electrons to have a happy shell. However, in oxygen the stable ground state O2 is actually where it has a unpaired electron on each oxygen...( a triplet state )..singley oxygen actually has extreme reactivity. It exists as a diatomic because a single oxygen atom is even more eractive than singlet oxygen so the drive to approach stabilty is what is involved. Although a diradical in the ground state O2..is not abnormally reactive as far as radicals go in that is rarely quenches fluorescence of molecules as many other triplet species do.

Answer 5

because oxygen canot b stable in atomic form to b stable it makes a molecule so o2 is stable form of oxygen

hope you understood

Answer 6

Oxygen is one of 7 diatomic (di = 2) molecutes that always appear in pairs, never alone.  You can remember them by the name Cliff Brown.  Spelled chemically it's: Cl (chlorine), I (iodine), F (fluorine), Br (bromine), O (oxygen), H (hydrogen), N (nitrogen) = ClIF BrOHN

Answer 7

Because, in nature, oxygen is never found without another atom. Oxygen gas forms covalent bonds with itself to make the more stable O2.

Answer 8

Oxygen is never found by itself in nature because it is an extremely reactive atom. To achieve stability, it forms a covalent bond with itself to form O2 instead. All gasses come in diatomic pairs due to their valence electron configuration.