Chemistry / Unit 12 Chem 2335 short lesson, about 20 seconds
Classifying Oxygen Compounds by O-O Bonding
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The idea
Oxygen compounds sort into oxides (isolated O2−), peroxides (an O-O single bond, bond order 1), and superoxides (a stronger O-O bond of order 1.5, carrying 1− charge per two oxygens).
In practice
Sodium peroxide, Na2O2, has a covalent O-O bond that ordinary sodium oxide, Na2O, lacks.
Where people slip
All three classes look alike as "metal plus oxygen"; oxygen count in the formula, not appearance, distinguishes them.
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