Exactly as the title asks.

Pure oxygen is generally represented as O2 yet oxygen is an element of the periodic table. Why is it O2 and not just O?

  • Mirodir@lemmy.fmhy.net
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    11
    ·
    1 year ago

    Small addition: I wouldn’t call O3 (Ozone) charged. It “only” has some partial charge like water (H2O) does, but overall it has the same number of protons and electrons.

    Now you could have ozonide (O3-), but that’s definitely a way more rare case.

    • lunarul@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      3
      ·
      1 year ago

      Yeah, I was too lazy to find a better description for it and didn’t want to go into valences