The Uplift Universe is a fictional universe created by American science fiction writer David Brin . A central feature in this universe is the process of biological uplift .
138-578: His books which take place in this universe are: There is also a short story, "Aficionado" (originally titled "Life in the Extreme"), published in 1998, which serves as a prequel to the series as a whole (it also serves as a part of Existence , an unrelated work by Brin), and a novella, Temptation , published in 1999 in Far Horizons , which follows on from Heaven's Reach . He also wrote Contacting Aliens: An Illustrated Guide to David Brin's Uplift Universe ,
276-572: A cascade method, Swiss chemist and physicist Raoul Pierre Pictet evaporated liquid sulfur dioxide in order to liquefy carbon dioxide, which in turn was evaporated to cool oxygen gas enough to liquefy it. He sent a telegram on December 22, 1877, to the French Academy of Sciences in Paris announcing his discovery of liquid oxygen . Just two days later, French physicist Louis Paul Cailletet announced his own method of liquefying molecular oxygen. Only
414-661: A base for several of the Great Institutes, and a way station for travelers passing through nearby transfer points. For a time it is extremely crowded with refugees and religious fervor as the Time of Changes begins, but space tremors cause it to be abandoned shortly before it is destroyed. E-space is an off-limits level of hyperspace for most orders of life, a strange realm where thoughts can become real and mere concepts can cause real harm. Its only natural inhabitants are "memetic" organisms. They are unable to exist outside of E-space without
552-586: A blend of non-uplifted root stock of the Tytlal race, and actual Tytlals passing as beasts. The Fractal World is an enormous, hollow artificial structure built around a dying dwarf star, the inside of which is used as a refuge by races in the Retired Order, or "Old Ones", that have supposedly retired from active participation in the affairs of the Five Galaxies. Kazzkark is a small planetoid, hollowed out to serve as
690-434: A few drops of the liquid were produced in each case and no meaningful analysis could be conducted. Oxygen was liquefied in a stable state for the first time on March 29, 1883, by Polish scientists from Jagiellonian University , Zygmunt Wróblewski and Karol Olszewski . In 1891 Scottish chemist James Dewar was able to produce enough liquid oxygen for study. The first commercially viable process for producing liquid oxygen
828-497: A foretold "Time of Changes" is upon the civilization of the five galaxies, and momentous and often catastrophic events are occurring out on the space lanes. The group travel through E-Space, on what proves to be Harry's final mission for the Navigation Institute. Kaa, pushing his skills to the absolute limit, manages to get them back to Jijo's system just as all transfer threads in that entire galaxy collapse, meaning that galaxy
966-550: A government known as the Terragens Council. Hierarchy exists within the different sentient species on earth, though they are all cooperative Humanity in the Uplift universe is not a dominant nor a technologically advanced species – it is centuries, even millennia, behind the great galactic powers and has several enemies capable of exterminating it entirely. While there is cooperation between humans and different alien races, there
1104-540: A guidebook about the background of the series. At least one more Uplift book is planned by Brin, as he has stated in 2012 that Temptation "will be a core element of the next Uplift novel... and answers several unresolved riddles left over from Heaven's Reach." GURPS Uplift is a sourcebook for a science fiction themed role-playing game based on the Uplift Universe. It includes a few stories that happen in Jijo after
1242-702: A host organism. Members of a mysterious order of life known as the Quantum Order are known to pass through E Level sometimes. The Rothen are an itinerant race with no home world. They are known to many as criminals. They claim to be the lost patron race of humanity, and the Daniks are a cult of humans and other EarthClan species that believe they are humanity's only hope in a hostile universe. Most of these characters were introduced in Startide Rising and do not re-appear until Infinify's Shore . Brightness Reef introduces
1380-657: A human child from a band of even more primitive humans leading a wretched existence outside the society of the Slope, and Dwer, chief scout of the Commons, who has a strained but genuine friendship with the young girl. They are accompanied by Mudfoot, known to Dwer as annoying "noor beast" but recognized by the Streaker crew as a Tytlal, a client race of the Tymbrimi, Earthclan's closest and most loyal allies, notorious for elaborate pranks. Back on
1518-481: A light sky-blue color caused by absorption in the red (in contrast with the blue color of the sky, which is due to Rayleigh scattering of blue light). High-purity liquid O 2 is usually obtained by the fractional distillation of liquefied air. Liquid oxygen may also be condensed from air using liquid nitrogen as a coolant. Liquid oxygen is a highly reactive substance and must be segregated from combustible materials. The spectroscopy of molecular oxygen
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#17328846035141656-560: A major role in absorbing energy from singlet oxygen and converting it to the unexcited ground state before it can cause harm to tissues. The common allotrope of elemental oxygen on Earth is called dioxygen , O 2 , the major part of the Earth's atmospheric oxygen (see Occurrence ). O 2 has a bond length of 121 pm and a bond energy of 498 kJ/mol . O 2 is used by complex forms of life, such as animals, in cellular respiration . Other aspects of O 2 are covered in
1794-597: A mysterious mute human, followed by a starship belonging to the Rothen, a race of galactic criminals, and their human devotees, the Daniks. The Commons of Jijo establishes an uneasy, distrustful relationship with the Daniks for a short time, but events accelerate rapidly and it becomes clear that the Rothen are amoral, attempting to cause friction between the races of the Commons, and possibly genocidal. Jijoan religious fanatics also cause friction and in some cases commit acts of destruction and violence, further complicating matters. At
1932-486: A nurse who was abducted by two reverted dolphins, Zhaki and Mopol, who wished to remain on Jijo with her as their unwilling sexual partner. Tkett was an archeologist aboard Streaker and is among those that were considered non-essential. Using the dolphin's highly sensitive underwater hearing, he detects the sound of engines and, believing this may be one of the many ancient ships used as decoys during Streaker s escape from Jijo, goes in pursuit of it accompanied by Chissis,
2070-438: A part of air that he called spiritus nitroaereus . In one experiment, he found that placing either a mouse or a lit candle in a closed container over water caused the water to rise and replace one-fourteenth of the air's volume before extinguishing the subjects. From this, he surmised that nitroaereus is consumed in both respiration and combustion. Mayow observed that antimony increased in weight when heated, and inferred that
2208-407: A partially reverted crew mate. Peepoe also hears the sound of engines deep in the ocean and decides that the time has come for her to make an escape. She begins by swimming deep where her captors are less likely to notice her escape, but eventually resorts to a furious sprint across the surface once she detects the sounds of Mopol and Zhaki pursuing her with their powered sled. Exhausted, she comes to
2346-410: A point where she is directly above the engine noise, and she makes a desperate dive down toward it, finding not a spaceship but something that looks like a strange sea monster that grabs her with a tentacle as she loses consciousness. Around this same time, Tkett and Chissis encounter the source of the noise they had been pursuing. It’s revealed to be an extremely large cylindrical machine moving across
2484-402: A potent oxidizing agent that readily forms oxides with most elements as well as with other compounds . Oxygen is the most abundant element in Earth's crust , and the third-most abundant element in the universe after hydrogen and helium . At standard temperature and pressure , two oxygen atoms will bind covalently to form dioxygen , a colorless and odorless diatomic gas with
2622-404: A process called eutrophication and the decay of these organisms and other biomaterials may reduce the O 2 content in eutrophic water bodies. Scientists assess this aspect of water quality by measuring the water's biochemical oxygen demand , or the amount of O 2 needed to restore it to a normal concentration. Paleoclimatologists measure the ratio of oxygen-18 and oxygen-16 in
2760-455: A scout for the Navigation Institute, and new setting, the bizarre realm of "E-level hyperspace". Harry detects unusual activity and eventually encounters Rety and Dwer, who had an improbable reunion aboard one of the decoy ships and wandered into E-level hyperspace due to their total lack of knowledge of space technology. Harry brings them to Kazzkark, his home base, normally a sleepy outpost for galactic institutes but now teeming with refugees and
2898-458: A small proportion of manganese dioxide. Oxygen levels in the atmosphere are trending slightly downward globally, possibly because of fossil-fuel burning. At standard temperature and pressure , oxygen is a colorless, odorless, and tasteless gas with the molecular formula O 2 , referred to as dioxygen. As dioxygen , two oxygen atoms are chemically bound to each other. The bond can be variously described based on level of theory, but
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#17328846035143036-449: A triplet electronic ground state . An electron configuration with two unpaired electrons, as is found in dioxygen orbitals (see the filled π* orbitals in the diagram) that are of equal energy—i.e., degenerate —is a configuration termed a spin triplet state. Hence, the ground state of the O 2 molecule is referred to as triplet oxygen . The highest-energy, partially filled orbitals are antibonding , and so their filling weakens
3174-485: A whistling language in which they speak in haiku, and Primal Dolphin , the "dream language", which is a song-like language they can use to communicate with each other and with whales. Uplifted animals can lose their power to speak when stressed, as a temporary de-evolution Galactics have several specialized languages, including mathematical, tonal, sonar-based and "bridging" languages. Some languages are more sophisticated than others: in one novel, an alien called Alvin, who
3312-531: Is a “Hoon” (alien species), notes that only some languages are good enough to describe highly technical processes, and notes how some people switch to "Galseven" or "Galtwo", which he does not understand. Chimps' vocal chords have been modified so that they can articulate human speech. EarthClan is the name of humanity and their clients (an animal or plant species being uplifted ) in David Brin's Uplift Universe. They are named for their combined homeworld Earth . In
3450-410: Is almost the luck of the draw that humans were the chosen phylum to achieve sentience. These themes are apparent in his work. However, it has been noted, despite the uplifting of some species, and Brin's work seeking an egalitarian proposed society for lower life forms and humans, that humans are still however positioned in the novels as the central heroes. The connected theme to the fact that humans are
3588-485: Is also cooperation between humans and their "client" (uplifted animal) races, to the point in that they cooperatively crew spaceships. The civilization of the Five Galaxies has several "Institutes", which are bureaucracies that specify how species deal with each other and the uplift process. One of the most significant of these is the Library Institute, the repository of all knowledge. Humanity prides itself on using
3726-508: Is associated with the atmospheric processes of aurora and airglow . The absorption in the Herzberg continuum and Schumann–Runge bands in the ultraviolet produces atomic oxygen that is important in the chemistry of the middle atmosphere. Excited-state singlet molecular oxygen is responsible for red chemiluminescence in solution. Table of thermal and physical properties of oxygen (O 2 ) at atmospheric pressure: Naturally occurring oxygen
3864-424: Is astounded to find her old crew mate Emerson, is the mysterious mute stranger who has been traveling with Sara Koolhan, they both join Streaker while much of her crew is left on Jijo. Streaker makes a bold escape attempt from Jijo using dozens of ancient derelict craft from the ocean bottom as decoys, as well as decoy balloons overseen by Dwer Koolhan. Polkihjy leaves Jijo to pursue Streaker , and Jijo's part in
4002-469: Is composed of three stable isotopes , O , O , and O , with O being the most abundant (99.762% natural abundance ). Most O is synthesized at the end of the helium fusion process in massive stars but some is made in the neon burning process . O is primarily made by the burning of hydrogen into helium during the CNO cycle , making it a common isotope in the hydrogen burning zones of stars. Most O
4140-795: Is essentially a detective story and occurs only decades after humanity's first contact with the Five Galaxies. In this story mankind discovers the sun's inhabitants and a plot to overthrow a patron race. This is the only novel to directly involve Earth. The protagonist, Jacob Demwa, is referenced in later novels as a mentor in Gillian Baskin and Tom Orley, and the captain of the Sundiver appears briefly in The Uplift War , having been promoted to admiral. This suggests human lifespans have been significantly extended by galactic technology. The second book, Startide Rising (1983), occurs centuries later. It follows
4278-478: Is made up solely of oxygen -breathing species. This civilization is aware of, but by tradition rarely if ever interacts with, the other orders of sapient life, which include those which are hydrogen -breathing, transcendent , mechanical, memetic , and quantum . There is also a special designation for hypothetical orders of life which could also exist but have not been discovered. Unlike most other races, humans and their clients regard creativity as very desirable –
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4416-675: Is now cut off from the civilization of the five galaxies. They spot several other ships similarly stranded or destroyed, as well as a small rocket traveling from Jijo to a neighboring moon. Streaker is forced to negotiate with members of the Transcendent Order, who wish to send them as emissaries to a distant galaxy. They convince the Transcendents, who send Polkihjy instead. Lark manages to briefly communicate with Streaker before they are cast into deep space, giving them several pieces of crucial information. Streaker finally arrives at
4554-630: Is often given for Priestley because his work was published first. Priestley, however, called oxygen "dephlogisticated air", and did not recognize it as a chemical element. The name oxygen was coined in 1777 by Antoine Lavoisier , who first recognized oxygen as a chemical element and correctly characterized the role it plays in combustion. Common industrial uses of oxygen include production of steel , plastics and textiles , brazing, welding and cutting of steels and other metals , rocket propellant , oxygen therapy , and life support systems in aircraft , submarines , spaceflight and diving . One of
4692-640: Is portrayed to most other fiction. Most other writers treat the uplifted animals badly in their various scenarios. The uplifted animals are used as tools or slaves, or in the case of the Planet of the Apes , as villains. Brin's take on the concept is more positive, with the "human patrons and their chimp and dolphin clients work together in a joyous partnership", and that it is almost the human's duty to uplift lesser creatures to an equal footing with their patrons. Ecology and stewardship of genetic diversity are major themes in
4830-441: Is produced when N (made abundant from CNO burning) captures a He nucleus, making O common in the helium-rich zones of evolved, massive stars . Fifteen radioisotopes have been characterized, ranging from O to O. The most stable are O with a half-life of 122.24 seconds and O with a half-life of 70.606 seconds. All of the remaining radioactive isotopes have half-lives that are less than 27 seconds and
4968-418: Is ready to return to full sapience with the others. The book received a number of reviews, including: The book received a number of reviews, including: The book received a number of reviews, including: Oxygen Oxygen is a chemical element with the symbol O and atomic number 8. It is a member of the chalcogen group in the periodic table , a highly reactive nonmetal , and
5106-408: Is reasonably and simply described as a covalent double bond that results from the filling of molecular orbitals formed from the atomic orbitals of the individual oxygen atoms, the filling of which results in a bond order of two. More specifically, the double bond is the result of sequential, low-to-high energy, or Aufbau , filling of orbitals, and the resulting cancellation of contributions from
5244-456: Is released as a byproduct . Oxygen is too chemically reactive to remain a free element in air without being continuously replenished by the photosynthetic activities of autotrophs such as cyanobacteria , chloroplast -bearing algae and plants. A much rarer triatomic allotrope of oxygen , ozone ( O 3 ), strongly absorbs the UVB and UVC wavelengths and forms a protective ozone layer at
5382-712: Is temperature-dependent, and about twice as much ( 14.6 mg/L ) dissolves at 0 °C than at 20 °C ( 7.6 mg/L ). At 25 °C and 1 standard atmosphere (101.3 kPa ) of air, freshwater can dissolve about 6.04 milliliters (mL) of oxygen per liter , and seawater contains about 4.95 mL per liter. At 5 °C the solubility increases to 9.0 mL (50% more than at 25 °C) per liter for freshwater and 7.2 mL (45% more) per liter for sea water. Oxygen condenses at 90.20 K (−182.95 °C, −297.31 °F) and freezes at 54.36 K (−218.79 °C, −361.82 °F). Both liquid and solid O 2 are clear substances with
5520-435: Is the result of the oxygen cycle . This biogeochemical cycle describes the movement of oxygen within and between its three main reservoirs on Earth: the atmosphere, the biosphere, and the lithosphere . The main driving factor of the oxygen cycle is photosynthesis , which is responsible for modern Earth's atmosphere. Photosynthesis releases oxygen into the atmosphere, while respiration , decay , and combustion remove it from
5658-516: Is unknown and mistrusted by galactic society. All other races simply apply brute-force, finite-element analysis to any problem due to their ability to apply as much computing power as may be needed to model all phenomena. Most Galactic "clans" are rather feudal and sometimes exploitative, and place strong emphasis on etiquette and especially on deferential behavior by members of "subordinate" races towards members of "superior" races. Hence they often regard EarthClan's informal speech as insulting and
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5796-457: Is unusual among the planets of the Solar System in having such a high concentration of oxygen gas in its atmosphere: Mars (with 0.1% O 2 by volume) and Venus have much less. The O 2 surrounding those planets is produced solely by the action of ultraviolet radiation on oxygen-containing molecules such as carbon dioxide. The unusually high concentration of oxygen gas on Earth
5934-517: Is usually given priority in the discovery. The French chemist Antoine Laurent Lavoisier later claimed to have discovered the new substance independently. Priestley visited Lavoisier in October 1774 and told him about his experiment and how he liberated the new gas. Scheele had also dispatched a letter to Lavoisier on September 30, 1774, which described his discovery of the previously unknown substance, but Lavoisier never acknowledged receiving it (a copy of
6072-655: The Earth , the Moon , Mars , and meteorites , but were long unable to obtain reference values for the isotope ratios in the Sun , believed to be the same as those of the primordial solar nebula . Analysis of a silicon wafer exposed to the solar wind in space and returned by the crashed Genesis spacecraft has shown that the Sun has a higher proportion of oxygen-16 than does the Earth. The measurement implies that an unknown process depleted oxygen-16 from
6210-556: The Greek roots ὀξύς (oxys) ( acid , literally 'sharp', from the taste of acids) and -γενής (-genēs) (producer, literally begetter), because he mistakenly believed that oxygen was a constituent of all acids. Chemists (such as Sir Humphry Davy in 1812) eventually determined that Lavoisier was wrong in this regard, but by then the name was too well established. Oxygen entered the English language despite opposition by English scientists and
6348-523: The Gubru invaded Garth . Neo-Chimpanzees like music, specifically percussion . They are embarrassed by situations which remind them of their earlier status as "smart animals", especially about nudity, tree-climbing and above all losing their ability to speak when under stress. Both dolphins and chimpanzees lose some of their sentient abilities in certain situations, a theme of devolution in Brin's work. Dolphins were
6486-526: The Journal of Evolution and technology . While the concept itself had been addressed by other writers before Brin, for instance, H.G. Wells in The Island of Doctor Moreau , it was Brin that coined the term, which has since been used by academics writing in the field generally for the concept Brin himself has noted that other authors, such as Wells, have covered the idea of uplifting animals, but in these examples
6624-484: The blood and carbon dioxide out, and the body's circulatory system then transports the oxygen to other tissues where cellular respiration takes place. However in insects , the most successful and biodiverse terrestrial clade , oxygen is directly conducted to the internal tissues via a deep network of airways . Many major classes of organic molecules in living organisms contain oxygen atoms, such as proteins , nucleic acids , carbohydrates and fats , as do
6762-536: The chemical formula O 2 . Dioxygen gas currently constitutes 20.95% molar fraction of the Earth's atmosphere , though this has changed considerably over long periods of time in Earth's history . Oxygen makes up almost half of the Earth's crust in the form of various oxides such as water , carbon dioxide , iron oxides and silicates . All eukaryotic organisms , including plants , animals , fungi , algae and most protists , need oxygen for cellular respiration , which extracts chemical energy by
6900-561: The oxygen -breathing sapient species). Neo-Dolphins are at a relatively early stage of uplift, and this has several consequences which are important in the plots of the stories: the optimal genetic mix for Neo-Dolphins has not yet been determined, and some of the newer genetic mixes become dangerous to colleagues when under stress; there are significant differences between older and younger Neo-Dolphins, in particular older individuals find it more difficult to speak; and they have to struggle against tendencies to slip into atavistic behaviours such as
7038-465: The reaction of oxygen with organic molecules derived from food and releases carbon dioxide as a waste product. In aquatic animals , dissolved oxygen in water is absorbed by specialized respiratory organs called gills , through the skin or via the gut ; in terrestrial animals such as tetrapods , oxygen in air is actively taken into the body via specialized organs known as lungs , where gas exchange takes place to diffuse oxygen into
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#17328846035147176-470: The shells and skeletons of marine organisms to determine the climate millions of years ago (see oxygen isotope ratio cycle ). Seawater molecules that contain the lighter isotope , oxygen-16, evaporate at a slightly faster rate than water molecules containing the 12% heavier oxygen-18, and this disparity increases at lower temperatures. During periods of lower global temperatures, snow and rain from that evaporated water tends to be higher in oxygen-16, and
7314-430: The thermal decomposition of potassium nitrate . In Bugaj's view, the isolation of oxygen and the proper association of the substance to that part of air which is required for life, provides sufficient evidence for the discovery of oxygen by Sendivogius. This discovery of Sendivogius was however frequently denied by the generations of scientists and chemists which succeeded him. It is also commonly claimed that oxygen
7452-419: The "Whale Dream" and rescue fever (which leads them to beach themselves). Dolphins and humans interact with a version of English called Anglic. Humans had agreed not to uplift Gorillas until their other clients were further along the path of Uplift. However, some humans secretly continued the project on the small colony-world of Garth. Neo-Gorillas have some understanding that they are being uplifted, and chose
7590-553: The 17th and the 18th century but none of them recognized it as a chemical element . This may have been in part due to the prevalence of the philosophy of combustion and corrosion called the phlogiston theory , which was then the favored explanation of those processes. Established in 1667 by the German alchemist J. J. Becher , and modified by the chemist Georg Ernst Stahl by 1731, phlogiston theory stated that all combustible materials were made of two parts. One part, called phlogiston,
7728-531: The 2s electrons, after sequential filling of the low σ and σ orbitals; σ overlap of the two atomic 2p orbitals that lie along the O–O molecular axis and π overlap of two pairs of atomic 2p orbitals perpendicular to the O–O molecular axis, and then cancellation of contributions from the remaining two 2p electrons after their partial filling of the π orbitals. This combination of cancellations and σ and π overlaps results in dioxygen's double-bond character and reactivity, and
7866-527: The American scientist Robert H. Goddard became the first person to develop a rocket engine that burned liquid fuel; the engine used gasoline for fuel and liquid oxygen as the oxidizer . Goddard successfully flew a small liquid-fueled rocket 56 m at 97 km/h on March 16, 1926, in Auburn, Massachusetts , US. In academic laboratories, oxygen can be prepared by heating together potassium chlorate mixed with
8004-465: The Buyur's machinery. Tkett is repulsed by the idea and rejects it entirely, while Peepoe argues for accepting it and recruiting as many other dolphins as they can to join them. As they argue the point, Chissis suggests to Tkett that he listen more carefully to what Peepoe is saying, and he realizes there is a hidden sonar message behind her words advising him to "sleep on it". Tkett awakens sometime later on
8142-465: The Earth system, which is heavily besieged by a massive space armada. They attempt to break through the lines by distracting the fleet with a strange, taunting holographic message. The tactic works better than imagined, frightening the fanatics into believing that they may have offended the Progenitors, and they give up the siege. Earth is free, for now. Temptation is a novella by David Brin which
8280-483: The Earthclan amphibious spaceship Streaker (crewed by uplifted dolphins and their human patrons) which has discovered a colossal derelict fleet. Streaker is pursued as rumors spread throughout the Five Galaxies that the ship has found the remains of the Progenitors. The third book, The Uplift War (1987), occurs around the same time as Startide Rising but in another part of the galaxy. An intergalactic war, sparked by
8418-451: The Jophur ship, which they learn is named Polkihjy . Gillian Baskin decides to send the young friends into exile on a small island, for their own protection, but Alvin realizes at the last moment whose ship they have been on and demands to be allowed to stay. Contact is established between Streaker and Uriel the smith, and there is an exchange of personnel and equipment at Wuphon Port. Gillian
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#17328846035148556-664: The Library as little as possible. For instance, instead of drawing upon the highly refined starship designs available in the Library, humanity tends to develop its own (generally vastly inferior) vessels. Humans feel that this is a way to exercise their own independence and creativity, and it occasionally allows them to find solutions to problems which have in fact surprised more powerful races. The Institute of Migration determines what planets can be colonized and under what environmental restrictions, primarily to ensure that suitable races can still evolve for later uplift. The institute also ensures
8694-478: The Philosopher's Stone drawn from the source of nature and manual experience"] (1604) described a substance contained in air, referring to it as 'cibus vitae' (food of life, ) and according to Polish historian Roman Bugaj, this substance is identical with oxygen. Sendivogius, during his experiments performed between 1598 and 1604, properly recognized that the substance is equivalent to the gaseous byproduct released by
8832-470: The Rothen craft, imprisoning it in a quantum time-shifted substance. The huge battleship is revealed to be operated by the terrifying Jophur, the supremely egotistical and violent form of the peaceful and kind Traeki that live on Jijo. Alvin's group find themselves on a mysterious ship hidden deep in Jijo's seas. They are treated kindly but remain ignorant of who captured/rescued them from the depths. The reader, however, becomes aware they are aboard Streaker ,
8970-417: The Rothen, are humanity's lost patrons. One of the main themes of his work is the idea of speciesism . Brin's themes of animals uplifted to humans has been noted as rallying against speciesist viewpoints in modern society . His work implies that humans are not that different from animals. Brin himself has spoken about the glass ceiling that non human species are up against in terms of evolution, and how it
9108-645: The Slope, the Jophur commit terrible acts of war, they are especially enraged to find the G'Kek race on Jijo, as they had engaged in a war of extermination against them and they were believed to be extinct. The Commons are secretly communicating with the Daniks aboard their now-submerged spacecraft, and are also constructing numerous new weapons and primitive technologies to improve their communication and defense capabilities. The Jophur remain ignorant of most of these efforts as they are simply unable to recognize them for what they are, but they do capture Lark Koolhan and Ling. The two of them manage to escape captivity and hide on
9246-438: The Sun's disk of protoplanetary material prior to the coalescence of dust grains that formed the Earth. Oxygen presents two spectrophotometric absorption bands peaking at the wavelengths 687 and 760 nm . Some remote sensing scientists have proposed using the measurement of the radiance coming from vegetation canopies in those bands to characterize plant health status from a satellite platform. This approach exploits
9384-511: The Thennanin as their "patrons" at a ceremony on Garth. This is politically very important, as the conservative and conscientious Thennanin are a major military power and the Neo-Gorillas' choice converts the Thennanin from enemies to allies of EarthClan. After adoption by the Thennanin, the Neo-Gorillas are termed "Garthlings." Kiqui are a pre- sapient amphibious species first discovered on
9522-463: The Uplift books. In this Universe, the protection of ecology is given a lot of importance by the various alien races, and those races found to be ecologically destructive are seen as criminals by the various other races in the books, and punished for their crimes. Religious orthodoxy and the behavior of static societies are also themes. Most of the races that antagonize EarthClan and pursue Streaker are described as religious fanatics, and are angry at
9660-639: The Uplift universe have generally not undergone serious genetic manipulation, though there has been a concerted effort to mix all human ethnicities and breed superior humans. Advanced augmentative technologies exist, but are not widely used by humans. Humans themselves are "patrons" to other species that they uplift. Chimpanzees were the first clients of humans and are the most "complete" in that they are closest to full sapiency. Initially, chimpanzees are removed from their families and raised in human environments, where they are uplifted, and given language abilities. They are Stage 2 clients but almost became Stage 3 when
9798-493: The atmosphere. In the present equilibrium, production and consumption occur at the same rate. Free oxygen also occurs in solution in the world's water bodies. The increased solubility of O 2 at lower temperatures (see Physical properties ) has important implications for ocean life, as polar oceans support a much higher density of life due to their higher oxygen content. Water polluted with plant nutrients such as nitrates or phosphates may stimulate growth of algae by
9936-412: The bond order from three to two. Because of its unpaired electrons, triplet oxygen reacts only slowly with most organic molecules, which have paired electron spins; this prevents spontaneous combustion. In the triplet form, O 2 molecules are paramagnetic . That is, they impart magnetic character to oxygen when it is in the presence of a magnetic field, because of the spin magnetic moments of
10074-546: The books for indicating the difference and superiority of humans over others. Both the Neo Chimpanzees and the Neo Dolphins at time revert to their basic animal nature, in particular when under stress, at one point the whole dolphin crew, except for a few, all devolve to basic animal behaviour. This brings great shame to them, in particular to the Neo Chimpanzees. Because the clients have gained their sentience via uplifting and
10212-423: The books, humanity is an insignificant race, having no known Patrons (a species responsible for uplifting them) and having mostly primitive technology. Humans have two (confirmed) clients and are referred to formally as "a-Human ul-Chimpanzee ul-Dolphin". By becoming patrons before contact with Galactic society, humanity unknowingly protected itself from being forced into becoming a client of an older race. Humans in
10350-422: The chimp character Jeffrey (the main chimp character in Sundiver ), who continues to use human speech, even when faced with the stress of death, which he succumbs to. The level of sophistication of languages is something that was noted in by Ina Roay-Faderman, who notes that only some sophisticated languages could be used to describe highly technical issues to deal with space travel. Some commentary has highlighted
10488-427: The collapse of the delicate structure of the world. Streaker narrowly evades another ambush and manages to escape in the chaos, still pursued by Polkihjy , which is barely under Jophur control as it has been invaded by hydrogen-breathing life forms. Lark, Ling, and the former Traeki sage Asx have all merged with one single gigantic life form now occupying much of the ship, which they simply call "Mother". On Kazzkark,
10626-444: The diatomic elemental molecules in those gases. The first commercial method of producing oxygen was chemical, the so-called Brin process involving a reversible reaction of barium oxide . It was invented in 1852 and commercialized in 1884, but was displaced by newer methods in early 20th century. By the late 19th century scientists realized that air could be liquefied and its components isolated by compressing and cooling it. Using
10764-455: The dolphin-crewed EarthClan ship not seen since the events of Startide Rising , some two years earlier in the series internal timeline. The crew is astonished to find all the different races living on Jijo, and the human commander, Gillian Baskin, is unsure what to do with the youngsters. She sends a dolphin raiding party to the mainland where both a Jophur and Danik support craft have crashed after fighting one another, and they return with Rety,
10902-440: The early days of the human uplift program before Contact. The contents of this story have since been reused as part of the unrelated novel Existence , making its position in the uplift universe uncertain. The novella Temptation is set back on Jijo just after the ending of Infinity's Shore , and tells what happened to some of the characters from the trilogy after Streaker escaped from Jijo, as well as offering some hints as to
11040-466: The electron spins are paired. It is much more reactive with common organic molecules than is normal (triplet) molecular oxygen. In nature, singlet oxygen is commonly formed from water during photosynthesis, using the energy of sunlight. It is also produced in the troposphere by the photolysis of ozone by light of short wavelength and by the immune system as a source of active oxygen. Carotenoids in photosynthetic organisms (and possibly animals) play
11178-611: The end of Heaven's Reach . In the Uplift universe an intergalactic civilization called the Five Galaxies, comprising a multitude of sapient races, has existed for billions of years. This civilization is perpetuated by the act of " uplift ", in which a "patron" species genetically modifies a pre- sapient "client" species until it is sapient. The client species is typically indentured to its patron species for 100,000 years. A patron species gains considerable status, and patrons and clients often unite into powerful clans . Patron status can be lost due to extermination, or gross crimes against
11316-478: The events of Startide Rising , results in a successful invasion of the EarthClan colony on the planet Garth, heavily populated by uplifted chimps. In 1995 Brightness Reef was published, the first book in a new Uplift trilogy. The "Uplift Storm" trilogy (excluding the first book, which solely focuses on Jijo) follows the survivors of the spaceship Streaker as they continue to evade the various galactic powers. Along
11454-563: The fact that the Englishman Priestley had first isolated the gas and written about it. This is partly due to a poem praising the gas titled "Oxygen" in the popular book The Botanic Garden (1791) by Erasmus Darwin , grandfather of Charles Darwin . John Dalton 's original atomic hypothesis presumed that all elements were monatomic and that the atoms in compounds would normally have the simplest atomic ratios with respect to one another. For example, Dalton assumed that water's formula
11592-521: The fate of the mysterious Buyur, the last race to legally settle there. Below is a summarized timeline for events detailed in the Uplift Universe, which corresponds to the Gregorian Calendar : Temptation (novella) The Uplift Storm trilogy , also called The Uplift Trilogy is a series of novels set in David Brin 's Uplift Universe . The entire trilogy is one long tale, with no gaps in
11730-399: The first known experiments on the relationship between combustion and air was conducted by the 2nd century BCE Greek writer on mechanics, Philo of Byzantium . In his work Pneumatica , Philo observed that inverting a vessel over a burning candle and surrounding the vessel's neck with water resulted in some water rising into the neck. Philo incorrectly surmised that parts of the air in
11868-507: The gaining of language being a marker of sentience, and the loss of it in certain situations by the chimps as a shameful thing. All the uplifted creatures gain the gift of language, when they are uplifted by humans. Mental and physical abilities are both tested, tests by aliens on the uplifted animals test both, and while physical abilities between non uplifted chimps and uplifted ones will be the same, mental abilities obviously will be enhanced. In terms of language for instance, humans are proud of
12006-571: The galactic civilization gave humanity patron status, which is one of the few lucky turns it has had in its difficult position as pariah in the galactic civilization. This saved humanity from the likely fate of becoming client to another race through forced adoption or being punitively exterminated for the environmental damage done to the Earth and its native species. Philosophically, it has been noted Brin sees lower life forms with potential for uplift like children, that will grow into adults. Humanity and its clients are collectively known as EarthClan, with
12144-493: The galactic civilization. Brin helped popularise the term 'Uplift' within the context of science fiction which has since been used by academics writing in the field generally for the concept. It is generally accepted in this universe that the process of uplift was initiated over two billion years ago by a species known only as the Progenitors. Humanity is therefore an anomaly – a species with no apparent patron race. Whether humanity truly evolved independently, or whether it
12282-476: The home of a strange new religion. Streaker has received assistance and guidance from an unlikely ally, hydrogen-breathing life forms and machine lifeforms in their employ. The crew is dismayed to find that they have arrived back at the massive fractal world where they had been betrayed before by supposedly neutral members of the Retired Order. Old resentments seemingly rekindle and the fractal world erupts into fighting and chaos, resulting in millions of deaths and
12420-406: The humans' egalitarian treatment of their Neo-Chimp and Neo-Dolphin clients as foolish, if not outright offensive. In the uplift world, the uplifted clients speak Anglic , a uniform language that replaced all previous human languages, and all EarthClan schools also teach GalSeven , a widely used galactic language. Dolphins are portrayed as adept with languages, and have two of their own: Trinary ,
12558-399: The idea; instead, it was based on observations of what happens when something burns, that most common objects appear to become lighter and seem to lose something in the process. Polish alchemist , philosopher , and physician Michael Sendivogius (Michał Sędziwój) in his work De Lapide Philosophorum Tractatus duodecim e naturae fonte et manuali experientia depromti ["Twelve Treatises on
12696-499: The letter was found in Scheele's belongings after his death). Lavoisier conducted the first adequate quantitative experiments on oxidation and gave the first correct explanation of how combustion works. He used these and similar experiments, all started in 1774, to discredit the phlogiston theory and to prove that the substance discovered by Priestley and Scheele was a chemical element . In one experiment, Lavoisier observed that there
12834-552: The lower stratosphere , which shields the biosphere from ionizing ultraviolet radiation . However, ozone present at the surface is a corrosive byproduct of smog and thus an air pollutant . Oxygen was isolated by Michael Sendivogius before 1604, but it is commonly believed that the element was discovered independently by Carl Wilhelm Scheele , in Uppsala , in 1773 or earlier, and Joseph Priestley in Wiltshire , in 1774. Priority
12972-423: The major constituent inorganic compounds of animal shells, teeth, and bone. Most of the mass of living organisms is oxygen as a component of water, the major constituent of lifeforms. Oxygen in Earth's atmosphere is produced by biotic photosynthesis , in which photon energy in sunlight is captured by chlorophyll to split water molecules and then react with carbon dioxide to produce carbohydrates and oxygen
13110-428: The majority of these have half-lives that are less than 83 milliseconds. The most common decay mode of the isotopes lighter than O is β decay to yield nitrogen, and the most common mode for the isotopes heavier than O is beta decay to yield fluorine . Oxygen is the most abundant chemical element by mass in the Earth's biosphere , air, sea and land. Oxygen is the third most abundant chemical element in
13248-408: The new religious cult on Kazzkark and believes she is being held up as a leader of the movement, when in fact the cult plans to sacrifice her as a symbol of what they believe will be ultimately necessary, the sacrifice of Earth itself and all of EarthClan. Dwer and Harry, now joined by a Synthian trader, rescue Rety from the cult and barely escape Kazzkark as space tremors tear it apart. It is clear that
13386-494: The nitroaereus must have combined with it. He also thought that the lungs separate nitroaereus from air and pass it into the blood and that animal heat and muscle movement result from the reaction of nitroaereus with certain substances in the body. Accounts of these and other experiments and ideas were published in 1668 in his work Tractatus duo in the tract "De respiratione". Robert Hooke , Ole Borch , Mikhail Lomonosov , and Pierre Bayen all produced oxygen in experiments in
13524-475: The ocean floor. They enter a hatch and find a strange realm within, where tiny versions of the six races that live on the surface live inside semi-transparent cubes,living entirely inside simulations. They see a great many of these cubes in numerous huge chambers within the machine. Peepoe awakes in a pool inside the "creature" she encountered, and likewise finds tiny versions of the six races living inside of it, but in this case they live in fanciful villages along
13662-412: The only intelligent species on the planet, is that, as such, we have a responsibility to other species, and it is an obligation that we must help other species, including uplifting them to sentience. Brin and his work proposes that it is almost selfish of humans not to consider uplifting other creatures to the human level of sentience. Devolution is also a theme in his work. This is one of the methods in
13800-418: The other end of "the Slope" a small group of humans attempts to quietly form a new settlement that may escape the murderous intent of the Rothen, but they find their Danik servants already there. A fight ensues and the group is scattered. Back at the glade of gathering where the Commons of Jijo was in conflict with the Daniks, their differences suddenly become moot when a much larger starship lands directly atop
13938-510: The others take the view that everything useful has already been discovered, so it would be more efficient to search the Galactic Library for whatever they need. EarthClan are also considered odd for using archaic technology in addition to the more advanced Galactic technology, or sometimes preferring primitive technologies that they understand to more advanced ones that they don't yet understand. Most notably, EarthClan utilizes calculus , which
14076-425: The parallels between the uplifted races and their patrons, and colonialism. Brin himself is quite critical of the concept, and highlights where some patrons uplift lesser beings, and then exploit them instead of helping them. Humans however on the whole treat their uplifted clients better than many others are treated by their patrons, generally, within the galaxy. The first book in the Uplift series, Sundiver (1980),
14214-535: The planet Kithrup by Streaker ' s crew, who persuade them to be uplifted as clients of the humans. If this goes ahead, the Kiqui would become humanity's first extraterrestrial clients. The concept of Uplift is a major theme of the novels and has been referred and discussed in numerous science articles, including both psychology and zoological journals. The novel content has been referred to as excellent cases of theoretical uplift scenarios by George Dvorsky, writing in
14352-408: The planet, called "The Slope" insuring that in time all trace of their settlements will be recycled back into the planet by subduction . If this law is broken and the so-called " Sooners " refuse to return to the Slope, the penalty is death. The Commons is a loose quasi-government on the Slope of Jijo. It is composed of members of six races: G'Kek's, Humans, Hoons, Traeki, Qheuen, and Urs. The Commons
14490-423: The possibility that lowly EarthClan may have discovered the fate of the Progenitors, possibly in direct contradiction to the core beliefs of several galactic religions. Earthclan mostly does not follow these religions, instead half-jokingly entrusting their fate to Ifni , a goddess of luck and chance, although there is also a subset of Earthclan known as the Daniks who are in a cult that believes galactic con-artists,
14628-453: The process is incomplete, it is imperfect, and they can at times revert to their devolved state. The theme of devolution is also investigated through the six races on Jijo, who profess to actually aspire to it, as part of a self discovery mystical experience. In contrast to the Aliens and the uplifted animals, the humans do not devolve nor wish to. The importance of language is also a theme, with
14766-430: The reader to the planet Jijo , a world that had been declared fallow, but one area, known as The Slope, is illegally inhabited by eight different galactic races, most supposedly seeking the "Path of Redemption", the goal of which is to devolve into a non-sapient life form, to be re-uplifted by a new patron race in the future. The peaceful, primitive society of Jijo is severely disrupted by the arrival of offworlders, first
14904-455: The remainder of this article. Trioxygen ( O 3 ) is usually known as ozone and is a very reactive allotrope of oxygen that is damaging to lung tissue. Ozone is produced in the upper atmosphere when O 2 combines with atomic oxygen made by the splitting of O 2 by ultraviolet (UV) radiation. Since ozone absorbs strongly in the UV region of the spectrum , the ozone layer of
15042-445: The same time, elsewhere on Jijo, a young member of Hoon race named Alvin and his friends from several races receive unexpected help in their quest to make a bathysphere for underwater exploring. They are assisted by Uriel, a sage of the urrish race, who asks their help in locating a hidden underwater cache of galactic technology. The bathysphere fails while deep underwater, and the young crew is rescued by mysterious metal-clad beings. On
15180-414: The seawater left behind tends to be higher in oxygen-18. Marine organisms then incorporate more oxygen-18 into their skeletons and shells than they would in a warmer climate. Paleoclimatologists also directly measure this ratio in the water molecules of ice core samples as old as hundreds of thousands of years. Planetary geologists have measured the relative quantities of oxygen isotopes in samples from
15318-427: The second clients of humans, and are some of the best pilots in the Five Galaxies because their aquatic origins give them excellent instincts for 3-D maneuvers. They are also important in planetary warfare because most Galactics are unaware of the strategic potential of the sea. Neo-Dolphins are Stage-2 Clients, and recently got their own starship , Streaker ( Streaker ' s discoveries later caused controversy among
15456-413: The separation of the hydrogen-breathing and oxygen-breathing orders of sapient life. Other intergalactic institutes regulate the uplift of sapient species, navigation, warfare, etc. Bureaucrats are recruited from all races but are expected to put the interests of their bureau before that of their race and maintain strict neutrality; however, this does not always happen. The civilization of the Five Galaxies
15594-405: The shores of intricate waterways. It is explained to both dolphin parties that they have come earlier than expected to these simulations, but they are invited to remain there and live a life of endless adventure and excitement. A holographic link is used to allow them to speak to one another, and to see that Zhaki and Mopol have already accepted the offer and are awaiting transformation and entry to
15732-461: The simulated worlds. They are told that nobody is forced to enter the simulations, but if they refuse their memory of the encounter will be erased in order to protect the secrecy of the project, which is now revealed to be a plot by the Buyur, the last race to legally inhabit Jijo. Their plan is that the descendants of those in the simulations will found an entirely new type of civilization that rejects science in favor of magic and wonder, all provided by
15870-438: The surface with the other two dolphins, disoriented to find himself already swimming at a rapid pace. Peepoe explains that she has realized the Buyur had no experience with cetacean brain structures, and would not realize that only one hemisphere of their brain sleeps at a time. Tkett suddenly recalls everything from their encounter, and the three agree they will fight against the plot. Chissis makes remarks that seem to indicate she
16008-438: The tale ends with Nelo planning to rebuild his paper mill that was destroyed by religious fanatics. As Streaker desperately flees towards the nearest hyperspace transfer point, Jijo's "Holy Egg" emits a powerful psychic blast that is felt by nearly everyone, and temporarily stuns the entire crew of the Jophur battleship. The final installment introduces a new character, Harry Harms, the first neochimp to be selected to serve as
16146-627: The timeline between volumes. The three novels are: Additionally there is short novella, Temptation set around the same time as the events of Heaven's Reach The setting of the majority of the first two novels and the novella Temptation is the planet Jijo. Jijo was declared fallow for one million years by the Migration Institute, in order to give it a chance to recover from successive colonies, but has been illegally populated by fugitives from several races seeking refuge there. By mutual agreement they all live on one geologically active area of
16284-420: The universe and revelations on the motivations of the oldest species in the Five Galaxies. Further explanations are provided on the Streaker ' s continuing mission, Earth's fate after invasion, and the nature of galactic life in the overlapping conspiracies of galactic civilization. The short story "Aficionado" or "Life in the Extreme" is set earliest of all the currently written work and gives an account of
16422-486: The universe, after hydrogen and helium. About 0.9% of the Sun 's mass is oxygen. Oxygen constitutes 49.2% of the Earth's crust by mass as part of oxide compounds such as silicon dioxide and is the most abundant element by mass in the Earth's crust . It is also the major component of the world's oceans (88.8% by mass). Oxygen gas is the second most common component of the Earth's atmosphere , taking up 20.8% of its volume and 23.1% of its mass (some 10 tonnes). Earth
16560-401: The unpaired electrons in the molecule, and the negative exchange energy between neighboring O 2 molecules. Liquid oxygen is so magnetic that, in laboratory demonstrations, a bridge of liquid oxygen may be supported against its own weight between the poles of a powerful magnet. Singlet oxygen is a name given to several higher-energy species of molecular O 2 in which all
16698-423: The uplift was a Frankenstein -like negative concept, with the animals becoming monsters, portraying the dark side of uplift and the dangers of scientists playing god. In Brin's works, the same concept is used positively to bring humans closer to animals, which he sees as an endgame. Other writers have commented on this aspect of Brin, differentiating him from other writers because of this, in comparison to how it
16836-435: The upper atmosphere functions as a protective radiation shield for the planet. Near the Earth's surface, it is a pollutant formed as a by-product of automobile exhaust . At low earth orbit altitudes, sufficient atomic oxygen is present to cause corrosion of spacecraft . The metastable molecule tetraoxygen ( O 4 ) was discovered in 2001, and was assumed to exist in one of the six phases of solid oxygen . It
16974-451: The vessel were converted into the classical element fire and thus were able to escape through pores in the glass. Many centuries later Leonardo da Vinci built on Philo's work by observing that a portion of air is consumed during combustion and respiration . In the late 17th century, Robert Boyle proved that air is necessary for combustion. English chemist John Mayow (1641–1679) refined this work by showing that fire requires only
17112-405: The way they encounter a hidden planet which has been inhabited by six races which have illegally settled and dropped out of the civilization of the Five Galaxies. They eventually make contact with the other orders of life. The second and third books in the new Uplift trilogy are Infinity's Shore and Heaven's Reach . In Heaven's Reach , the series sums up with conclusions on the nature of life in
17250-420: The youths from Wuphon Port, having been sent away because Gillian fears Streaker is on a suicide mission, arrive along with Kaa, the dolphin hotshot pilot. Alvin befriends local Hoons and he and Huck depart with them as they flee Kazzkark, which is becoming unstable. Ur-ronn meets starfaring urs and leaves with them. Pincer-Tip is killed by Ro-kenn, who was stowed away on their shuttle. Rety has become enamored of
17388-428: Was HO, leading to the conclusion that the atomic mass of oxygen was 8 times that of hydrogen, instead of the modern value of about 16. In 1805, Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac and Alexander von Humboldt showed that water is formed of two volumes of hydrogen and one volume of oxygen; and by 1811 Amedeo Avogadro had arrived at the correct interpretation of water's composition, based on what is now called Avogadro's law and
17526-534: Was criminally abandoned by an unknown patron early in its uplift, is a topic of fierce debate. Most of humanity believes itself to be a "wolfling" species that emerged into sapience solely through natural evolution , without genetic manipulation by a patron species. This belief is considered heresy and ridiculous by most of the galactic civilization and has made most of the galactic powers enemies of EarthClan. The fact that humanity had already uplifted two species ( chimpanzees and bottlenose dolphins ) when it encountered
17664-408: Was first discovered by Swedish pharmacist Carl Wilhelm Scheele . He had produced oxygen gas by heating mercuric oxide (HgO) and various nitrates in 1771–72. Scheele called the gas "fire air" because it was then the only known agent to support combustion. He wrote an account of this discovery in a manuscript titled Treatise on Air and Fire , which he sent to his publisher in 1775. That document
17802-411: Was formed as a unity government to stop wars that had plagued the Slope for decades. Each race has a "High Sage" that represents them on a council, and lesser sages perform various other tasks on behalf of the Commons. Other races present include Glavers, the only race on Jijo to actually progress down the devolutionary "Path of Redemption", partially uplifted chimpanzees, known as "Chims", and Noor Beasts,
17940-451: Was given off when the substance containing it was burned, while the dephlogisticated part was thought to be its true form, or calx . Highly combustible materials that leave little residue , such as wood or coal, were thought to be made mostly of phlogiston; non-combustible substances that corrode, such as iron, contained very little. Air did not play a role in phlogiston theory, nor were any initial quantitative experiments conducted to test
18078-491: Was independently developed in 1895 by German engineer Carl von Linde and British engineer William Hampson . Both men lowered the temperature of air until it liquefied and then distilled the component gases by boiling them off one at a time and capturing them separately. Later, in 1901, oxyacetylene welding was demonstrated for the first time by burning a mixture of acetylene and compressed O 2 . This method of welding and cutting metal later became common. In 1923,
18216-445: Was no overall increase in weight when tin and air were heated in a closed container. He noted that air rushed in when he opened the container, which indicated that part of the trapped air had been consumed. He also noted that the tin had increased in weight and that increase was the same as the weight of the air that rushed back in. This and other experiments on combustion were documented in his book Sur la combustion en général , which
18354-462: Was not sensibly different from that of common air , but I fancied that my breast felt peculiarly light and easy for some time afterwards." Priestley published his findings in 1775 in a paper titled "An Account of Further Discoveries in Air", which was included in the second volume of his book titled Experiments and Observations on Different Kinds of Air . Because he published his findings first, Priestley
18492-408: Was proven in 2006 that this phase, created by pressurizing O 2 to 20 GPa , is in fact a rhombohedral O 8 cluster . This cluster has the potential to be a much more powerful oxidizer than either O 2 or O 3 and may therefore be used in rocket fuel . A metallic phase was discovered in 1990 when solid oxygen is subjected to a pressure of above 96 GPa and it
18630-499: Was published in 1777. In the meantime, on August 1, 1774, an experiment conducted by the British clergyman Joseph Priestley focused sunlight on mercuric oxide contained in a glass tube, which liberated a gas he named "dephlogisticated air". He noted that candles burned brighter in the gas and that a mouse was more active and lived longer while breathing it. After breathing the gas himself, Priestley wrote: "The feeling of it to my lungs
18768-458: Was published in 1777. In that work, he proved that air is a mixture of two gases; 'vital air', which is essential to combustion and respiration, and azote (Gk. ἄζωτον "lifeless"), which did not support either. Azote later became nitrogen in English, although it has kept the earlier name in French and several other European languages. Lavoisier renamed 'vital air' to oxygène in 1777 from
18906-638: Was published in 1999 in the anthology Far Horizons: All New Tales from the Greatest Worlds of Science Fiction , ed. by Robert Silverberg . This short novella returns to the planet Jijo . At the end of Infinity's Shore , a small group of neodolphins are left on Jijo, those suffering from "stress atavism", a condition wherein the subject reverts to a more primitive state similar to non-uplifted dolphins, as well as medical personnel to oversee them, and others deemed non-essential to Streaker' s desperate final mission. Additionally, they are to search for Peepoe,
19044-420: Was shown in 1998 that at very low temperatures, this phase becomes superconducting . Oxygen dissolves more readily in water than nitrogen, and in freshwater more readily than in seawater. Water in equilibrium with air contains approximately 1 molecule of dissolved O 2 for every 2 molecules of N 2 (1:2), compared with an atmospheric ratio of approximately 1:4. The solubility of oxygen in water
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