Why does life require oxygen and not some other gas like nitrogen for example.
Is there something specific in oxygen that life needs to survive?
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A better way to phrase it *might* be…why oxygen instead of Sulfur or Selenium? Because those are both in the same column on the Periodic Table, they have the same number of valence electrons and therefore can form double-bonds easily. However, the obvious answer comes to mind at the same time: they’re both solid at room temperature. So…maybe…in a higher temperature environment, it *might* be possible for life to selectively choose gaseous Sulfur over Oxygen. But that’s not how things work on Earth (most of the time)
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