If our body needs oxygen in the air to live. then what the 77% of nitrogen do to our body?

Question

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

Answer 1

Not much directly. Indirectly – look on it as diluting the oxygen to a manageable level. Don’t assume that, just because we use oxygen, it’s somehow a “good” gas – it’s way too reactive. That makes it nasty, horribly corrosive stuff that you do NOT want too much of.