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Asked by anon-312850 on 2 Mar 2022.
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Matthew Macariou answered on 2 Mar 2022:
Oxygen atoms were formed by fusion of smaller atoms within the core of stars, where the pressure and temperature were intense enough for this to happen. They were formed in those stars long, long ago, and only ‘escaped’ as those stars died and released their elements into space.
This process continues today. Oxygen and other elements are being formed in the stars you see at night.
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Graeme Barker answered on 3 Mar 2022:
Oxygen atoms are formed in the core of stars from the fusion of smaller atoms – they are released when stars die, along with all the other elements that have been formed inside the star.
Oxygen molecules in the atmosphere (made of two joined oxygen atoms) are made by plants and some bacteria as a by-product during photosynthesis. In this process, the plant uses carbon dioxide and light to make sugar and oxygen. The plant keeps the sugar to use as as energy storage for its cells, and releases the excess oxygen molecules to the atmosphere.
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Mark Ridgill answered on 3 Mar 2022:
Oxygen is tied up in many places on earth, all the water contains it along with many rocks and thankfully in the air!
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Miguel Alena-Rodriguez answered on 3 Mar 2022:
As the great Carl Sagan once said: “The nitrogen in our DNA, the calcium in our teeth, the iron in our blood, the carbon in our apple pies were made in the interiors of collapsing stars”. “We are made of starstuff.”
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Mahoulo Ahouansou answered on 4 Mar 2022:
Oxygen was most likely generated following the big bang. It is a key chemical elements and one that is sort out when looking for other life form outside of Earth.
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Richa Sharma answered on 8 Mar 2022:
The birth of the oxygen in the universe has been well explained by my dear fellow experts. Just to add an interesting fact to it: the earth’s atmosphere however did not contain enough molecular oxygen for a long time. When the earliest bacteria started growing (archaea and cyanobacteria), they couldn’t use free oxygen as it was absent – unlike today where all living beings ‘breathe’ oxygen. These tiny microscopic organisms started to break down water and other compounds that contained oxygen and produced molecular O2. But even then mysteries remain, because it took another billion years after that to increase the O2 level to its present 21%. Scientists don’t know why. We don’t know why the level is 21% and not 25 or 35%. Many suspect there was a ‘great oxidation event’. But we are yet to solve that mystery.
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Amit Vernekar answered on 10 Mar 2022:
Before the origin of life, reducing atmosphere prevailed. After continuous energetic processes such as lightning lead to the generation of coacervates (small proteinaceous particles) that built up into an organism. These organisms were capable of decomposing water to release oxygen in the presence of light.
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Andrew Parrott answered on 10 Mar 2022:
Some great answers here already.
Just to add something about oxygen elements vs oxygen molecules. Us scientists (and others) are often lazy with what we call things. “Oxygen” is often used to refer to both the element and the molecule oxygen found as a gas in the air. Really the molecule should be called “dioxygen” as it is two oxygen atoms bonded together to form a molecule (O2), sometimes dioxygen is called “molecular oxygen”. Three oxygen atoms can join together to make the molecule ozone (O3), the gas that makes up the ozone layer. You can even get eight oxygen atoms joining together at very high pressure to form octaoxygen also called “red oxygen” (because it has a red colour). Many other diatomic gases also commonly just get their element name e.g. hydrogen gas (H2, so really dihydrogen) and nitrogen gas (N2, really dinitrogen).
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Fiona Fotherby answered on 11 Mar 2022:
It is my understanding that oxygen formed when the universe was created, as were all the other elements. These days, when a new atom is added to the periodic table, it is usually one we haven’t found or isolated in nature, and this is the work of nuclear chemists, I believe.
My grandma used to say we are all made of stardust! The same elements in my body have been recycled in the universe for a very long time! -
Stephen Doughty answered on 14 Mar 2022:
It’s a good question (with lots of good answers above). Another good (and related) question is where all the world’s oceans’ water came from – Chemistry World (the magazine of the Royal Society Chemistry) recently had an article pointing out that we’re still working out that question and it’s still a bit of a mystery.
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