Final answer:
Oxygen and fuel gas mixtures require careful control, such as in welding or deep-sea diving, and play a vital role in fuel-efficient transportation through FCVs. The potential explosiveness of hydrogen-oxygen mixtures is a significant safety concern.
Step-by-step explanation:
When mixing oxygen and fuel gas, the process requires careful control to avoid dangerous conditions, especially when dealing with reactive gases like hydrogen and oxygen. For example, in applications like welding which require very hot flames, a mixture of compressed acetylene and oxygen is used. The pressure of oxygen is typically set higher to ensure efficient combustion. For deep-sea diving, special gas mixtures are used instead of compressed air to avoid conditions such as 'the bends'. A typical gas cylinder for deep diving might contain oxygen and helium, with each gas contributing to the total pressure based on its partial pressure at a given temperature.
In the context of hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles (FCVs), which are an emerging technology for more fuel-efficient transportation, oxygen plays a critical role by reacting with hydrogen to produce electricity and water, reducing greenhouse gas emissions and dependency on fossil fuels. However, for such technology to become economically viable, an environmentally sound method of hydrogen production is necessary.
Concerns over mixture explosiveness are also significant in scenarios where hydrogen is mixed with oxygen. For example, if enough oxygen is added to a cylinder of hydrogen at a high pressure, the question to ask is whether the resulting mixture is explosive. It's known that most hydrogen-oxygen mixtures are explosive, but if the oxygen content is less than 3.0%, explosiveness is avoided.