this post was submitted on 19 Jun 2023
5 points (100.0% liked)

No Stupid Questions

28 readers
1 users here now

A place to ask questions, stupid or not.

founded 1 year ago
 

I've never really understood how that works. Chemistry wasn't my best subject in high school, and it's been over a decade since then for me.

top 7 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] Parsnip8904 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Dissolved oxygen is not the same as the oxygen in water molecule. Think of the fizz in soda. That comes from the dissolved carbon dioxide. You can have soda that is flat and that is very sharp. The same way you can have water with less dissolved oxygen or more.

In more technical terms, think of dissolved oxygen/carbon dioxide as gas molecules held in cage of water molecules. The more cages you make, the more you can dissolve these gases until you reach the maximum amount possible at a given temperature/pressure.

[–] mrbigmouth502@kbin.social 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] Parsnip8904 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Happy to help :) Thank you.

[–] mrbigmouth502@kbin.social 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Funny thing is, it's the more technical explanation you gave that helped me understand it better. Like, it clicked with me when I visualized molecular cages wrapping around other molecules. :D

[–] Parsnip8904 2 points 1 year ago

I am happy that my undergrad degree in chemistry is helpful somehow :) I have found that often stem people underestimate how much others can understand.

[–] CrimsonOnoscopy 1 points 1 year ago

Water molecules are H2O, but any body water is more than just water.

It works the same as salt etc being in the waterbody

[–] aMalayali 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

The O in H2O is oxygen, but it isn't dissolved oxygen.
It's part of water. A water molecule consists of 2 Hydrogen atoms and an Oxygen atom.

The oxygen atom has chemically bonded with the hydrogen atoms. The O there isn't existing as a separate gas.
So, The dissolved oxygen is something different from the O in H2O.

And the dissolved oxygen is influenced by things like temperature, pressure, other things dissolved in the water n all.

load more comments
view more: next ›