Helium and Oxygen - Comparison - Properties

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

helium and oxygen - comparison

Compare helium with another element

Compare oxygen with another element

Helium and Oxygen – About Elements

Helium

It is a colorless, odorless, tasteless, non-toxic, inert, monatomic gas, the first in the noble gas group in the periodic table. Its boiling point is the lowest among all the 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.

Helium in Periodic Table

Oxygen in Periodic Table

Source: www.luciteria.com

Helium and Oxygen – Applications

Helium

Helium is used for many purposes that require some of its unique properties, such as its low boiling point, low density, low solubility, high thermal conductivity, or inertness. Of the 2014 world helium total production of about 32 million kg (180 million standard cubic meters) helium per year, the largest use (about 32% of the total in 2014) is in cryogenic applications, most of which involves cooling the superconducting magnets in medical MRI scanners and NMR spectrometers. Most clinical magnets are superconducting magnets, which require liquid helium to keep them very cold.

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.

Helium and Oxygen – Comparison in Table

Helium

Element	Helium	Oxygen
Density	0.00018 g/cm3	0.00143 g/cm3
Ultimate Tensile Strength	N/A	N/A
Yield Strength	N/A	N/A
Young’s Modulus of Elasticity	N/A	N/A
Mohs Scale	N/A	N/A
Brinell Hardness	N/A	N/A
Vickers Hardness	N/A	N/A
Melting Point	-272.2 °C	-218.4 °C
Boiling Point	-268.9 °C	-183 °C
Thermal Conductivity	0.1513 W/mK	0.02674 W/mK
Thermal Expansion Coefficient	— µm/mK	— µm/mK
Specific Heat	5.193 J/g K	0.92 J/g K
Heat of Fusion	0.0138 kJ/mol	(O2) 0.444 kJ/mol
Heat of Vaporization	0.0845 kJ/mol	(O2) 6.82 kJ/mol