Oxygen

Yes, oxygen.  Pretty much everything important in your body contains oxygen as a fundamental building block. It’s essential to the way life has evolved on earth:  only very few creatures (some bacteria basically) can survive in an anaerobic (no oxygen) environment.  Oxygen is very reactive, so earth is unusual in having pure oxygen (O2) in the atmosphere. In the upper atmosphere, oxygen is found as ozone (O3) in the ozone layer, although ozone is poisonous to life, in the atmosphere it forms a barrier, protecting the earth’s surface from harmful UV rays.

Apart from playing a part in the structure of our bodies, the most important function of oxygen is to help us respire: we take in oxygen through our lungs, and use it to turn glucose into energy, thus powering our entire body. Without it, our bodies wouldn’t function. But you already knew that:

If I’m perfectly honest, I’m not that happy with this one, nor yesterday’s for that matter. I predict improvement however.

Tags: elements