Oxygen and Calcium - Comparison - Properties

This article contains comparison of key thermal and atomic properties of oxygen and calcium, two comparable chemical elements from the periodic table. It also contains basic descriptions and applications of both elements. Oxygen vs Calcium.

oxygen and calcium - comparison

Compare oxygen with another element

Compare calcium with another element

Oxygen and Calcium – About Elements

Oxygen

Oxygen is a colourless, odourless reactive gas, the chemical element of atomic number 8 and the life-supporting component of the air. It is a member of the chalcogen group on the periodic table, a highly reactive nonmetal, and an oxidizing agent that readily forms oxides with most elements as well as with other compounds. By mass, oxygen is the third-most abundant element in the universe, after hydrogen and helium.

Calcium

Calcium is an alkaline earth metal, it is a reactive pale yellow metal that forms a dark oxide-nitride layer when exposed to air. Its physical and chemical properties are most similar to its heavier homologues strontium and barium. It is the fifth most abundant element in Earth’s crust and the third most abundant metal, after iron and aluminium.

Oxygen in Periodic Table

Calcium in Periodic Table

Source: www.luciteria.com

Oxygen and Calcium – Applications

Oxygen

Common uses of oxygen include production of steel, plastics and textiles, brazing, welding and cutting of steels and other metals, rocket propellant, oxygen therapy, and life support systems in aircraft, submarines, spaceflight and diving. Smelting of iron ore into steel consumes 55% of commercially produced oxygen. In this process, oxygen is injected through a high-pressure lance into molten iron, which removes sulfur impurities and excess carbon as the respective oxides, sulfur dioxide and carbon dioxide. Uptake of oxygen from the air is the essential purpose of respiration, so oxygen supplementation is used in medicine. Treatment not only increases oxygen levels in the patient’s blood, but has the secondary effect of decreasing resistance to blood flow in many types of diseased lungs, easing work load on the heart.

Calcium

The largest use of metallic calcium is in steelmaking, due to its strong chemical affinity for oxygen and sulfur. Its oxides and sulfides, once formed, give liquid lime aluminate and sulfide inclusions in steel which float out. Calcium compounds are used as manufacture of insecticides, paints, blackboard chalk, textile and fireworks.

Oxygen and Calcium – Comparison in Table

Element	Oxygen	Calcium
Density	0.00125 g/cm3	1.55 g/cm3
Ultimate Tensile Strength	N/A	110 MPa
Yield Strength	N/A	N/A
Young’s Modulus of Elasticity	N/A	20 GPa
Mohs Scale	N/A	1.5
Brinell Hardness	N/A	170 – 400 MPa
Vickers Hardness	N/A	N/A
Melting Point	-209.9 °C	842 °C
Boiling Point	-195.8 °C	1484 °C
Thermal Conductivity	0.02598 W/mK	200 W/mK
Thermal Expansion Coefficient	N/A	22.3 µm/mK
Specific Heat	1.04 J/g K	0.63 J/g K
Heat of Fusion	(N2) 0.7204 kJ/mol	8.54 kJ/mol
Heat of Vaporization	(N2) 5.56 kJ/mol	153.3 kJ/mol