oxide

oxide

oxide, chemical compound containing oxygen and one other chemical element. Oxides are widely and abundantly distributed in nature. Water is the oxide of hydrogen. Silicon dioxide is the major component of sand and quartz. Carbon dioxide is given off during respiration by animals and plants. Carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, and oxides of nitrogen are among the waste gases of gasoline-burning internal-combustion engines. Nitrous oxide is an oxide of nitrogen often called laughing gas. Many of the metals form oxides. Some metal oxides, e.g., those of iron, aluminum, tin, and zinc, are important as ores. Litharge and red lead are lead oxides used as pigments in paint. A number of elements, e.g., arsenic, carbon, manganese, nitrogen, phosphorous, and sulfur, combine with oxygen to form more than one oxide. The inert gases do not form oxides. The halogens and inactive metals do not combine directly with oxygen, but their oxides can be formed by indirect methods. Oxides are usually named according to the number of oxygen atoms present in a molecule, e.g., monoxide (or simply oxide), dioxide, trioxide. In a molecule of carbon monoxide, CO, for example, there is one oxygen atom; in carbon dioxide, CO₂, there are two; and in phosphorus pentoxide, P₂O₅, there are five. Oxides are commonly classified as acidic or basic oxides or anhydrides. Sulfur trioxide is an acid anhydride; it reacts with water to form sulfuric acid. Phosphorus pentoxide reacts vigorously with water to form phosphoric acid. Many metal oxides react with water to form alkaline hydroxides, e.g., calcium oxide (lime) reacts with water to form calcium hydroxide (slaked lime). Some metal oxides do not react with water but are basic in that they react with an acid to form a salt and water. Others exhibit amphoterism; i.e., they react with both acids and bases. Still others are neutral and nonreactive.

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The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.

Oxide

 

a chemical compound in which an element is combined with oxygen. Some oxides form salts, for example, Na₂O, MgO, Al₂O₃, SiO₂, P₂O₅, SO₃ and C1₂O₇; others, including CO, N₂O, NO, and H₂O, do not. Oxides that form salts are basic, acid, or amphoteric; accordingly, their hydroxides are bases, acids, or amphoteric compounds. The chemical activity of oxides is determined by the location of the oxidized elements in D. I. Mendeleev’s periodic table of the elements.

Many oxides occur naturally, such as water (H₂O), carbon dioxide (CO2), and silica (SiO₂, a primary constituent of rocks). The natural oxides of certain elements, including iron and tin, are the starting material for the preparation of the corresponding pure metal. Oxides are widely used in engineering, for example, lime (CaO) is used in construction. Nitric and sulfuric acids are prepared from NO₂ and SO₂.

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Oxide

 

a chemical compound in which oxygen is combined only with more electropositive elements. Examples of oxides are chromous oxide (CrO) and chromic oxide:

The term “oxide” has been incorporated into the international nomenclature for inorganic compounds; the equivalent for this term in the Russian nomenclature is okisel.

The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 3rd Edition (1970-1979). © 2010 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.

oxide

[′äk‚sīd]

(chemistry)

Binary chemical compound in which oxygen is combined with a metal (such as Na₂O; basic) or nonmetal (such as NO₂; acidic).

McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific & Technical Terms, 6E, Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

oxide

1. any compound of oxygen with another element

2. any organic compound in which an oxygen atom is bound to two alkyl or aryl groups; an ether or epoxide

Collins Discovery Encyclopedia, 1st edition © HarperCollins Publishers 2005