Liquid oxygen
:''LOX redirects here. For the hip hop group D-Block (formerly known as The L.O.X.), see
D-Block (hip hop).
|
Image from Dr Warwick Hillier see http://www.rsbs.anu.edu.au/O2 |
Liquid oxygen (also
LOx,
LOX or
Lox in the
aerospace industry) is the liquid form of
oxygen. It has a pale blue color and is strongly
paramagnetic. Liquid oxygen has a density of 1140 kg/m³ and is moderately
cryogenic (freezing point: −219 °C, boiling point: −183 °C). In commerce, liquid oxygen is classified as an
industrial gas and is widely used for industrial and medical purposes. Liquid oxygen is obtained from the
oxygen found naturally in
air by
fractional distillation.
Liquid oxygen is a powerful oxidising agent: organic materials will burn rapidly and energetically in liquid oxygen, hence LOx is a common liquid
oxidizer propellant for
spacecraft rocket applications usually in combination with
liquid hydrogen or
kerosene. It was used in the very first rocket applications like the
V2 missile and
Redstone,
R-7 Semyorka or
Atlas boosters. LOX is useful in this role because it creates a high
specific impulse. LOx was also used in some early
ICBMs although more modern ICBMs do not use LOX because its cryogenic properties and need for regular replenishment to replace boiloff make it harder to maintain and launch quickly. During
World War II, liquid oxygen was used as an oxidizer in several Nazi Germany military rocket designs, under name
A-Stoff and
Sauerstoff.
LOX also had extensive use in making
oxyliquit explosives.
Liquid nitrogen has a significantly lower boiling point (77 K) than oxygen (90 K), and vessels containing liquid nitrogen can condense oxygen from air: when most of the nitrogen has evaporated from such a vessel there is a risk that liquid oxygen remaining can react violently with organic material. Conversely, liquid nitrogen can be oxygen-enriched by letting it stand in open air; atmospheric oxygen dissolves in it, while nitrogen evaporates preferentially.
*
List of Stoffs*
Oxygen*
Karol Olszewski and
Zygmunt Florenty Wróblewski*
Rocket fuel*
Tetraoxygen - "Red Oxygen"
* LOx enhanced combustion:
Lighting a barbeque with liquid oxygen Do not try this yourself*
Dave Barry's comment on the above:
Liquid oxygen can overcome balky charcoal*
Demonstration of the paramagnetism of LOx
