Q. What are the uses of Oxygen?

Oxygen is essential for life. Most life processes are based on oxidative metabolism: While the terrestrial beings take up oxygen through respiration, the aquatic plants and animals survive on oxygen dissolved in water. It is an important oxidant used in various energy generation processes through combustion of wood or of fossil fuels like coal, natural gas and petroleum. Rocket fuels have liquid oxygen as the oxidant. Since oxyacetylene and oxy- hydrogen flames have very high temperatures; they are used in cutting metals and in welding. Many chemical industries also use oxygen as an oxidant, e.g., in manufacture of, ethylene and propylene oxides, vinyl acetate for polymer industry and oxidation of ammonia for manufacture of nitric acid. Ozone which is an allotropic form of oxygen is also a powerful oxidising agent. Ozone undergoes a characteristic reaction with unsaturated organic compounds where it attacks a double or triple. Bond. It can, therefore, be used for the detection and characterisation of the double or triple bond. It is also used in the treatment of drinking water.