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Aug 19, 2009 · The Origin of Oxygen in Earth's Atmosphere. The breathable air we enjoy today originated from tiny organisms, although the details remain lost in geologic time. David Biello is a contributing...
- Et May Be a Microbe
On supporting science journalism. If you're enjoying this...
- New Theory Explains How Earth's Early Atmosphere Became Oxygen-Rich
"Without oxygen, the most sophisticated life on the earth...
- In The Beginning... Introducing The Origins Issue
The Origin of Scientific American A week of origins,...
- Et May Be a Microbe
- When Did Oxygen Appear in Earth's atmosphere?
- What Was The Great Oxidation Event?
- Was Oxygen A Good Thing For Life on Earth?
- Will Earth Ever Lose Its oxygen?
There's plenty we still don't know about the details. Just how much nitrogen that early mineral rain provided our planet, for example, we're not entirely sure. But some time around 4.3 billion years ago Earth's hellish conditions finally started to cool and the deluge of space rocks eased up. Bodies of water pooled long enough for various geochemic...
Earth's earliest attempts at biology would have needed to take the energy holding together one set of molecules and repurpose it to build organic materials. At some point early in the game, perhaps within hundreds of millions of years of Earth's formation, a mechanism for pulling energy provided by sunlight from certain chemicals was chanced upon. ...
Just what kind of impact the sudden glut of oxygen gas had on Earth's biosphere is surprisingly hard to say. Theoretically, oxygen is a pretty reactive element. Even today, we have specialized enzymes for dealing with the damage free oxygen can cause our more delicate organic molecules, such as DNA. So it's easy to imagine that without adaptations ...
So long as the Sun is shining, plants are blooming, and photosynthesis is pumping, it seems like our planet will always have a fairly decent amount of oxygen in its atmosphere. But that balance is not permanent. In around a billion years, solar radiation will be strong enoughto rip apart carbon dioxide. Without the gas, photosynthesis will grind to...
May 11, 2023 · Photosynthesis is the process by which plants and other organisms use sunlight, water, and carbon dioxide to produce energy. As a byproduct, oxygen is released, which has over time given Earth an oxygen-rich atmosphere suitable for complex lifeforms.
May 13, 2016 · Today, 21 percent of the air we breathe is made up of molecular oxygen. But this gas was not always in such ample, life-sustaining supply, and in fact was largely absent from the atmosphere for the first 2 billion years of Earth’s history.
Mar 1, 2019 · Oxygen in the form of the oxygen molecule (O2), produced by plants and vital for animals, is abundant in Earth’s atmosphere and oceans. But that hasn’t always been the case. When, and in what...
Oct 26, 2020 · Scientists reveal new clues into how Earth got its oxygen. by Louise Lerner, University of Chicago. Earth’s thin shell of oxygen atmosphere keeps us alive, though we still don’t know...
Oxygen cycle refers to the movement of oxygen through the atmosphere (air), biosphere (plants and animals) and the lithosphere (the Earth’s crust). The oxygen cycle demonstrates how free oxygen is made available in each of these regions, as well as how it is used.
