[eli5] Humans and most animals breathe in O2(dioxide) and breathe out CO2(carbon dioxide) , where does the carbon come from?
In: Biology
It’s a by product of energy production inside the cell. A carbon molecule is ejected into the blood and expelled out through your lungs.
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This is kinda mind boggling, but science is just like that. I sometimes get confused over how trees can grow so big just from water and the minerals in the soil until I remember that they’re literally sucking carbon out of the air to build themselves with (in a very simplistic perspective)
The world is fascinating.
The use of the term “dioxide” in the original question intrigued me, so I looked it up…
I think O² is actually called [Dioxygen](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allotropes_of_oxygen#Dioxygen) rather than “dioxide”. An oxide is always going to be a compound, formed with at least one other element.
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