oxygen

• science could not have predicted water molecule from

12:9.3Math­e­mat­ics, ma­te­rial sci­ence, is in­dis­pens­able to the in­tel­li­gent dis­cus­sion of the ma­te­rial as­pects of the uni­verse, but such knowl­edge is not nec­es­sar­ily a part of the higher re­al­iza­tion of truth or of the per­sonal ap­pre­ci­a­tion of spir­i­tual re­al­i­ties. Not only in the realms of life but even in the world of phys­i­cal en­ergy, the sum of two or more things is very of­ten some­thing more than, or some­thing dif­fer­ent from, the pre­dictable ad­di­tive con­se­quences of such unions. The en­tire sci­ence of math­e­mat­ics, the whole do­main of phi­los­o­phy, the high­est physics or chem­istry, could not pre­dict or know that the union of two gaseous hy­dro­gen atoms with one gaseous oxy­gen atom would re­sult in a new and qual­i­ta­tively super­ad­di­tive sub­stance—liq­uid wa­ter. The un­der­stand­ing knowl­edge of this one phys­io­chem­i­cal phe­nom­e­non should have pre­vented the de­vel­op­ment of ma­te­ri­al­is­tic phi­los­o­phy and mech­a­nis­tic cos­mol­ogy.

• on morontia worlds

43:1.3Eden­tia and its as­so­ci­ated worlds have a true at­mo­sphere, the usual three-gas mix­ture which is char­ac­ter­is­tic of such ar­chi­tec­tural cre­ations, and which em­bod­ies the two el­e­ments of Uran­tian at­mo­sphere plus that mor­ontia gas suit­able for the res­pi­ra­tion of mor­ontia crea­tures. But while this at­mo­sphere is both ma­te­rial and mor­ontial, there are no storms or hur­ri­canes; nei­ther is there sum­mer nor win­ter. This ab­sence of at­mo­spheric dis­tur­bances and of sea­sonal vari­a­tion makes it pos­si­ble to em­bel­lish all out­doors on these es­pe­cially cre­ated worlds.

• lava flows, meteors kept primitive atmospheric o. used up

57:7.6The prim­i­tive plan­e­tary at­mo­sphere is slowly evolv­ing, now con­tain­ing some wa­ter va­por, car­bon monox­ide, car­bon diox­ide, and hy­dro­gen chlo­ride, but there is lit­tle or no free ni­tro­gen or free oxy­gen. The at­mo­sphere of a world in the vol­canic age pre­sents a queer spec­ta­cle. In ad­di­tion to the gases enu­mer­ated it is heav­ily charged with nu­mer­ous vol­canic gases and, as the air belt ma­tures, with the com­bus­tion prod­ucts of the heavy me­te­oric show­ers which are con­stantly hurtling in upon the plan­e­tary sur­face. Such me­te­oric com­bus­tion keeps the at­mo­spheric oxy­gen very nearly ex­hausted, and the rate of me­te­oric bom­bard­ment is still tremen­dous.

• first free atmospheric o. generated by seaweed, other plants
• lava flows, meteors kept primitive atmospheric o. used up

57:7.9Even in the later pe­ri­ods the con­tin­u­ing lava flows and the in­com­ing me­te­ors kept the oxy­gen of the air al­most com­pletely used up. Even the early de­posits of the soon ap­pear­ing prim­i­tive ocean con­tain no col­ored stones or shales. And for a long time af­ter this ocean ap­peared, there was vir­tu­ally no free oxy­gen in the at­mo­sphere; and it did not ap­pear in sig­nif­i­cant quan­ti­ties un­til it was later gen­er­ated by the sea­weeds and other forms of veg­etable life.