Does oxygen conduct electricity?

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Does oxygen conduct electricity?
If oxygen (O2) does not conduct electricity, how do thunderstorms occur?

As an electrician, I will share a few tips that I have learned from my interest in researching the conductivity of oxygen - an interesting concept in electrochemistry.

Brief Summary: Oxygen, whether gaseous, liquid or solid, does not conduct electricity. This is due to the covalent bond formed by two oxygen atoms. However, it will direct electrical energy when ionized in plasma form.

I will detail below.

Does oxygen conduct electricity?

Oxygen in gaseous, liquid or solid state does not conduct electricity. This is due to the covalent bond formed by two oxygen atoms. However, it will direct electrical energy when ionized in plasma form.

covalent bond

According to my research, oxygen acts as an insulator, but during thunderstorms, conditions exceed the breakdown voltage, allowing current to flow. It acts like a capacitor because it stores an electrical charge.

When the strength of the electric field generated by it becomes strong enough, it ionizes the oxygen, allowing lightning to strike. Also, it can be related to other elements in the air.

If oxygen (O2) does not conduct electricity, how do thunderstorms occur?

Now, if you use a very high voltage - typically 200 to 1000 volts (or higher), you can get sparks, lightning, or other types of plasmas where moving electrons move in a gas that can carry electricity.

Since electrons (ions) from atoms and molecules must be removed from massive energy barriers, a significant amount of energy is required to generate this plasma. This "ionization" process in the gas requires a high voltage.

Study Paschen's law and Paschen's curves, which show the threshold or minimum breakdown voltage for various gases. (Remember that it takes energy to hold free electrons in a gas phase, such as air, while mobile electrons are always present in a metallic conductor.)

Each free electron must be generated by ionizing a gas atom/molecule or emitting an electron from a surface, so for each free electron in the plasma there must be 5 to 10 eV or more of energy used to create a free or mobile electron. Then electrons will be lost, for example, when recombining with cations (positive ions). Thus, energy must be constantly used to maintain an appreciable number of mobile electrons.

So, high voltages can generate electrons which can move freely in gas and conduct electricity - like lightning.

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