We all need air to breathe. Without it life on earth would not be possible. Have you ever wondered what is actually in the air that we breathe? What is the breakdown of what is in it. We take in air to our lungs. This then oxygenates our blood making our bodies work better. With air being all around us it might surprise you to know that we are being pressed by the air in the Earth’s atmosphere as if we were 34 feet below the seas. In most cases this would be fatal but the air pressure is distributed equally around as plus the water in our bodies pushes back against it meaning we do not get crushed.
Air is made up of 3 factors. The largest is Nitrogen. This makes up the largest part at 78 percent. Oxygen, which people think air actually is, makes up 21 percent.
The rest of it is carbon dioxide, which we breathe out, and then things like methane. We need the oxygen part to make a flame. A Boiler Service Gloucester based firm like https://www.hprservicesltd.com/gloucester-boilers/boiler-service-gloucester/ will soon tell you that without a supply of air nothing is going to work.
How the lungs use the air we breathe
Air is a mixture of invisible gases. Nitrogen makes up the largest share, oxygen comes second, and there are smaller amounts of argon and carbon dioxide. Trees and other plants help keep the oxygen supply topped up, and almost all animal life, on land and in water, depends on it.
The lungs are the organs that make this mixture useful. As you breathe in and out, the spongy tissue of the lungs expands and contracts, drawing air in and passing oxygen into the bloodstream. The blood then carries that oxygen to every part of the body, where it is used to release energy from the food we eat. Carbon dioxide travels the other way and is breathed out.
Because the lungs deliver oxygen to the whole body, good lung capacity matters. Trained free divers show how far it can be developed, with some able to hold their breath for up to seven minutes. Keeping pollution and other harmful particles out of the lungs helps protect them.