new reaction for generating oxygen tagged posts

In Giapis’s reactor, carbon dioxide is converted into molecular oxygen. Credit: Caltech

Reaction turns CO2 into molecular oxygen. Researchers have demonstrated a new reaction for generating oxygen that could help humans explore the universe and perhaps even fight climate change at home. Science fiction stories are chock full of terraforming schemes and oxygen generators for a very good reason – we humans need molecular oxygen (O2) to breathe, and space is essentially devoid of it. Even on other planets with thick atmospheres, O2 is hard to come by.

So, when we explore space, we need to bring our own oxygen supply. That is not ideal because a lot of energy is needed to hoist things into space atop a rocket, and once the supply runs out, it is gone.

One place molecular oxygen d...