Today’s [Triviatime](https://triviatime.app/) had a Q which asked what % of the earth’s air is made of Oxygen. The answer was 21% but this only left me with more questions!
How??? What else is there and what are the implications of those elements/things being literally everywhere in the air. Fellow laymen eggheads, please add to this list of thoughts you have about this which need to be addressed:
– How does our breathing filter the other stuff out?
– What actually is air if it’s made up of so many different things, I thought air basically = oxygen?
– How steady is this 21% level? Can this change overtime, is that dangerous, and if so how?
– Etc
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> How does our breathing filter the other stuff out?
by not reacting with it, the biggest mass of out atmosphere is nitrogen, an inert gas which you just breathe back out.
> What actually is air if it’s made up of so many different things, I thought air basically = oxygen?
“air” would effectively be atmosphere so the mix of gases + pressure.
> How steady is this 21% level? Can this change overtime, is that dangerous, and if so how?
its’s as steady as it gets outside of a extinction level events.
fun fact, an Atmosphere with too much oxygen is toxic(100% oxygen would just straight up kill you as the lung tissue doesnt like htis type of enviroment). too much is also bad in general since oxygen is a very reactive fuel source for combustion.
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