as I was told from early education that the air we currently breathe in contains 21% oxygen and 77-ish% of nitrogen and the rest are other particles.
So I have a dumb question on what the body uses nitrogen we breathe in for?
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When you inhale the air from the atmosphere, which consists of about 78% nitrogen, into your lungs, several things occur:
1. Inhalation: During the inhalation process, you breathe in air through your nose or mouth. This air contains a mixture of gases, including nitrogen.
2. Passage through Airways: The inhaled air travels down your windpipe (trachea) and branches into smaller airways called bronchi, eventually reaching the tiny air sacs in your lungs called alveoli.
3. Gas Exchange: In the alveoli, oxygen from the air diffuses across the thin walls of the alveoli into the bloodstream. This oxygen is then transported by red blood cells to various parts of your body for use in cellular respiration.
4. Nitrogen Remains Inert: Nitrogen, however, does not significantly participate in this gas exchange process. It remains inert and does not chemically react with your body. Instead, it continues to circulate through your respiratory system with each breath and is eventually exhaled back into the atmosphere when you breathe out.
In summary, when you inhale nitrogen from the atmosphere into your lungs, it doesn’t play a direct role in oxygenating your body. Instead, it primarily serves as a diluent gas in the air you breathe, and it’s exhaled without undergoing any significant chemical changes within your body.
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