Why is oxygen important to living things?

Answer 1

We need it to combine with nutrients, release energy and keep us alive.

Answer 2

You have to have oxygen to breathe & if there's no oxygen then you will die like a fish out of water. Our concentration of oxygen (21%) in the atmosphere is one of the major reasons that makes this planet inhabitable. Plants use it for photosynthesis. If we didn't have oxygen, there would also be no ozone layer (which protects us) and we'd be hit with deadly UV. Also, trees require the expiration of CO2, which is a byproduct of our inspiration of oxygen. They expire Oxygen which helps the environment.

Answer 3

The main reason comes from cellular processes. You live because your heart pumps blood to the other parts of your body which in turn gives the oxygen it has to all the parts. The oxygen is actually used to 'burn' glucose (food in general) which provides energy in the form of ADP to ATP conversion etc....

The essence of the argument is that you need oxygen to make energy from the food you eat....it is kind of like burning fuel.... except in the body, the temperature and other conditions are drastically low because of extremely good catalyst reactions by enzymes.....

Answer 4

Because oxygen makes iron rust, and if it did not the earth would have been covered with iron by now...

Or did you want the simple answer, that we breath oxygene?

Answer 5

Life.

Answer 6

Do your own homework. Alternatively put a plastic bag over your head-that will give you your answer in about 2 minutes.

Answer 7

Because Plants and animals use it in respiration

Plant Respiration
Plants trap energy* from the sun in a process called photosynthesis. As long as there is sunlight and carbon dioxide available, plants will take in carbon dioxide and water. They will use these materials to make food.
But this energy is no good to them until they use it. The process of using food and oxygen to get energy is called respiration.

Plants must use the energy they trap in the food to stay alive. That's where respiration comes in. At night, plants take in oxygen and use it to get energy from the food they stored. This is a chemical reaction. This is the same reaction that takes place in animals that eat the plants.

Fortunately for us, the plants make much more food than they use so that there is plenty left over for animals to eat

Animal Respiration
In complex animals, where the cells of internal organs are distant from the external environment, respiratory systems facilitate the passage of gases to and from internal tissues. In such systems, when there is a difference in pressure of a particular gas on opposite sides of a membrane, the gas diffuses from the side of greater pressure to the side of lesser pressure, and each gas is transported independently of other gases. For example, in tissues where carbon dioxide concentration is high and oxygen concentration is low as a result of active metabolism, oxygen diffuses into the tissue and carbon dioxide diffuses out.

In lower animals, gas diffusion takes place through a moist surface membrane, as in flatworms; through the thin body wall, as in earthworms; through air ducts, or tracheae, as in insects; or through specialized tracheal gills, as in aquatic insect larvae. In the gills of fish the blood vessels are exposed directly to the external (aquatic) environment. Oxygen–carbon dioxide exchange occurs between the surrounding water and the blood within the vessels; the blood carries gases to and from tissues.

In other vertebrates, including humans, gas exchange takes place in the lungs. Breathing is the mechanical procedure in which air reaches the lungs. During inhalation muscular action lowers the diaphragm and raises the ribs; atmospheric pressure forces air into the enlarged chest cavity. In exhalation the muscles relax and the air is expelled. This combined rhythmic action takes place about 12–16 times per minute when the body is at rest. The rate of breathing is controlled mainly by a respiratory center in the brain stem that responds to changes in the level of hydrogen ion and carbon dioxide in the blood, as well as to other factors such as stress, temperature changes, and motor activities. Some residual air always remains in the lungs, but with each breath an additional quantity of fresh air, called tidal air, is inhaled. Artificial respiration is used for respiratory failure.

In higher vertebrates, oxygen-poor, carbon dioxide–rich blood from the right side of the heart is pumped into the lungs and flows through the net of capillaries surrounding the alveoli, the cup-shaped air sacs of the lungs; oxygen diffuses across the capillary membranes into the blood, and carbon dioxide diffuses in the opposite direction. The oxygen combines with the protein hemoglobin in red blood cells as the blood returns to the left side of the heart, is pumped throughout the body, and is released into tissue cells (see circulatory system). Carbon dioxide passes in the opposite direction, from the cells of the tissues to the red blood cells. In the blood, carbon dioxide exists in three forms: as bicarbonate ion, in which form it serves as a buffer, keeping blood acidity fairly constant; combined with hemoglobin; and as the dissolved free gas. Of these, only free carbon dioxide gas is available for diffusion from the blood into the lungs.

Answer 8

I don't need oxygen all my brain cells are dead anyway.

Answer 9

You would die without it. That's pretty important to me.

Answer 10

You have to be kidding. Just try not breathing and see what happens.