An oxygen tank is an oxygen storage vessel, which is either held under pressure in gas cylinders, or as liquid oxygen in a cryogenic storage tank.
Oxygen tanks are used to store gas for:
Breathing oxygen is delivered from the storage tank to users by use of the following methods: oxygen mask, nasal cannula, full face diving mask, diving helmet, demand valve, oxygen rebreather, built in breathing system (BIBS), oxygen tent, and hyperbaric oxygen chamber.
Contrary to popular belief scuba divers very rarely carry oxygen tanks. The vast majority of divers breathe air or nitrox stored in a diving cylinder. A small minority breathe trimix, heliox or other exotic gases. Some of these may carry pure oxygen for accelerated decompression or as a component of a rebreather. Some shallow divers, particularly naval divers, use oxygen rebreathers or have done so historically.
Oxygen is rarely held at pressures higher than 200 bar / 3000 psi, due to the risks of fire triggered by high temperatures caused by adiabatic heating when the gas changes pressure when moving from one vessel to another.