Why can’t we absorb oxygen from the water (H2O) we drink?
In: Chemistry
Because the oxygen atoms themselves are less important than the chemical bonds they can form.
The chemical bonds between two oxygen atoms represent a significant amount of potential energy (think of a stretched rubber band), especially compared to the chemical bonds between oxygen and hydrogen in H2O (think of a loose rubber band).
The potential energy if the O2 bonds was already released (think of pulling a stretched rubber band off of one of the pegs holding it) when it reacted with H2 to form H2O, so that energy simply is not available to be extracted from H2O
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