Is there simply so much oxygen that it gets everywhere on Earth or is it something else?
In: Physics
Wind.
You’re totally right that there isn’t much vegetation there for turning CO2 into O2, but there also aren’t many critters there turning O2 into CO2 there either; in the end it all sort of evens out that the breathable oxygen doesn’t get locally depleted before wind and diffusion can bring enough fresh air back in.
Maybe there *isn’t* as much oxygen in these places. We’d need to measure it to be sure. Maybe there is just enough to make it somewhat habitable. Also, these places aren’t typically densely populated, so maybe less oxygen lasts longer in these places.
Actually, much more oxygen is generated by the ocean than anything else. But plants and trees do play an important part.
The easy answer is wind. The winds that circle the earth keep the oxygen flowing all around the earth and most areas have pretty much the same oxygen level.
You start getting less oxygen at higher altitudes, and that’s because oxygen settles closer to sea level vs other gasses.
At sea level, the air is approx 21% oxygen.
At 5500 meters it’s approx 10.5% oxygen.
At the summit of Everest (aproxx 8900 meters) its about 6% oxygen.
What deserts lack is water. The air has as much oxygen there as anywhere else.
(But what vegetation also needs is carbon dioxide.)
Fluids flow from high concentration to low concentration. Oxygen is air and air is a fluid.
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