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?
In: 387
Nothing really – except for evolved microorganisms (A. vandii if I’m remembering correctly) that are symbiotic with some plants and are capable of “fixing,” (I.E. using) nitrogen gas.
Two fun facts: 1) possibly the most impactful invention of the 20th century was the Haber-Bosch process, which has led to huge usage of nitrogen fertilisers for crop growth. Without it, more than half of humans on the planet now would’ve starved to death. 2) Your body doesn’t sense what you’re breathing in, only that carbon dioxide is being breathed out. You can “drown,” in 100% nitrogen with no physical sign of it except loss of consciousness. So be careful in environments where that may be possible!
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