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Medical Definition of Hyperbaric oxygen
1. High pressure oxygen, oxygen at a pressure greater than 1 atmosphere. See: hyperbaric oxygenation. Singlet oxygen, an excited or higher energy form of oxygen characterised by the spin of a pair of electrons in opposite directions, whereas electron spin is unidirectional in normal molecular oxygen Because of its great reactivity, singlet oxygen is a probable intermediate in most photo-oxidation reactions. Although it exists for no more than 0.1 sec, it may react with atmospheric pollutants to foster smog formation and may have harmful biological effects. Triplet oxygen, the normal unexcited state of O2 in the atmosphere, in which the unpaired pair of electrons are so displaced that their magnetic fields are oriented in the same direction, resulting in paramagnetism; each of the heat-generated spectral lines of such oxygen can be split by a magnetic field into a triplet. Compare: singlet oxygen. (05 Mar 2000)
Lexicographical Neighbors of Hyperbaric Oxygen
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