a 

oxygen group element, also called chalcogen, any of the six chemical elements
making up Group 16 (VIa) of the periodic classification—
namely, oxygen (O), sulfur (S), selenium (Se), tellurium (Te), polonium (Po),
and livermorium (Lv). A relationship between the first three members of the group was
recognized as early as 1829; tellurium was assigned its place by 1865, and polonium was
discovered in 1898. In 2000, Russian and American physicists created livermorium, the
sixth member of Group 16, in a particle accelerator.
Natural occurrence and uses
Estimates of the proportions of the various kinds of atoms in the universe put oxygen
fourth in abundance, after hydrogen, helium, and neon, but the importance of such a
ranking is slight, since hydrogen atoms account for almost 94 percent of the total and
helium for most of the rest. About three atoms out of 10,000 are oxygen, but because the
mass of an oxygen atom is approximately 16 times that of a hydrogen atom,
oxygen constitutes a larger fraction of the mass of the universe, though still only about
0.5 percent. In the regions ordinarily accessible to man, however—i.e., within a few
kilometres of the surface of the Earth—oxygen is the most abundant element: in mass, it
makes up about 20 percent of the air, about 46 percent of the solid crust of the Earth,
and about 89 percent of the water.

panzer division, German Panzerdivision, (“armoured division”), a self-contained

combined-arms military unit of the German army, built around and deriving its mission
largely from the capabilities of armoured fighting vehicles. A panzer division in World
War II consisted of a tank brigade with four battalions, a motorized infantry brigade
with four rifle battalions, an artillery regiment, and reconnaissance, antitank, and
engineer battalions and service units. Early in the war the panzer divisions used mostly
light tanks, and later they used mostly medium tanks.

The first three panzer divisions were created in October 1935, and by the outbreak of
war in 1939 there were six. Panzer divisions formed the decisive striking force of the
German army in the campaigns against Poland in 1939, the Netherlands, Belgium,
Luxembourg, and France in 1940, and the Balkans and the Soviet Union in 1941. In the
campaign against France, there were 10 panzer divisions incorporating all the German
tanks in that campaign—2,574 out of the 3,400 tanks that Germany possessed. After the
French campaign the number of panzer divisions was doubled, and in 1941 17 of them,
grouped in four panzer armies, spearheaded the German invasion of the Soviet Union.

Since World War II, despite the acquisition of more advanced weapons and changes in
ratios among constituent elements, the panzer division’s mission has not undergone
significant change. It remains the principal offensive element of the German army.