• Question: Is the earth's nitrogen important or could we live without it?

    Asked by james4pluto to Amy, Sarah, Will on 21 Jun 2012.
    • Photo: Sarah Martin

      Sarah Martin answered on 21 Jun 2012:

      Hi James4pluto,

      Great question! Most people think nitrogen does nothing, but it is actually really important – not because it’s particularly interesting, but because it fills the air with something that doesn’t harm us. If air wasn’t 78% nitrogen, it would have to be something else. The next up is oxygen at 21%, but pure oxygen is actually toxic for us, and breathing in 100% oxygen results in seizures and lung damage… Next up is carbon dioxide at 0.04%. This one’s really not good for us because it triggers the signal that we’re suffocating – more than 4% makes us feel dizzy and makes us pass out, even if there’s plenty of oxygen available!

      So just as well there’s all that nitrogen to bulk out the air we breathe so we can get healthy amounts of all the other gases.

      🙂 Sarah

Comments