Uploaded May 2021 | Updated September 2026, 2 hours ago
Oxygen is among one of the most abundant gases on Earth. It makes up about 21% of the atmosphere, about 50-80% of all the water on Earth, and about 46% of the Earth’s crust. Almost all living creatures on Earth need oxygen to survive. It is so crucial to our survival that even a few minutes without it would kill us. But why is breathing oxygen so important for our survival?
Oxygen is an essential part in maintaining the various functions and processes that happen throughout our bodies within our cells. To work and function properly, cells in our bodies need to release chemical energy. To do this, they use a process called Cellular Respiration. Cellular respiration is the process by which organisms combine oxygen with other food molecules to divert the stored chemical energy in these substances into life-sustaining activities. It takes place in the cells of animals, plants, and fungi, and in algae and other protists. So, we can think of Cellular respiration as a chemical reaction in which glucose is broken down in the presence of oxygen. This releases chemical energy which is captured in molecules of adenosine triphosphate, or ATP, which then supply it to fuel other cellular processes. Once ATP has released energy, it becomes ADP, or adenosine diphosphate, which is a low energy molecule. ADP can be recharged back into ATP by simply adding a phosphate. This requires energy. These molecules can be recycled so that a constant stream of energy-rich ATP is available for all metabolic pathways in the cell.
Oxygen is among one of the most abundant gases on Earth. It makes up about 21% of the atmosphere, about 50-80% of all the water on Earth, and about 46% of the Earth’s crust. Almost all living creatures on Earth need oxygen to survive. It is so crucial to our survival that even a few minutes without it would kill us. But why is breathing oxygen so important for our survival?
Oxygen is an essential part in maintaining the various functions and processes that happen throughout our bodies within our cells. To work and function properly, cells in our bodies need to release chemical energy. To do this, they use a process called Cellular Respiration. Cellular respiration is the process by which organisms combine oxygen with other food molecules to divert the stored chemical energy in these substances into life-sustaining activities. It takes place in the cells of animals, plants, and fungi, and in algae and other protists. So, we can think of Cellular respiration as a chemical reaction in which glucose is broken down in the presence of oxygen. This releases chemical energy which is captured in molecules of adenosine triphosphate, or ATP, which then supply it to fuel other cellular processes. Once ATP has released energy, it becomes ADP, or adenosine diphosphate, which is a low energy molecule. ADP can be recharged back into ATP by simply adding a phosphate. This requires energy. These molecules can be recycled so that a constant stream of energy-rich ATP is available for all metabolic pathways in the cell.
