Facts About Oxygen - strangefacts

• The adult human body requires about 88 pounds of oxygen daily

• The grass and trees along the U.S. interstate highway system release enough oxygen to support 22 million people

• The only part of the body that has no blood supply is the cornea in the eye. It takes in oxygen directly from the air

• Oxygen-poor blood (shown in blue) flows from the body into the right atrium

• If you are locked in a sealed room, you will die of carbon dioxide poisoning before your brain starves from oxygen deprivation

• Joseph Priestley not only discovered oxygen, but he also discovered ammonia, carbon monoxide, hydrogen chloride, sulphur dioxide, and nitrous oxide. He was also the first person to isolate chlorine

• Your brain uses 20% of the total oxygen in your body

• It is thought that a yawn works to send more oxygen to the brain, therefore working to cool it down and wake it up

• The brain can live for 4 to 6 minutes without oxygen, and then it begins to die. No oxygen for 5 to 10 minutes will result in permanent brain damage

• Ted A. Batchelor, a professional stuntman endured a full-body burn without oxygen supplies for 2 min 38 sec on an island at Ledges Quarry Park, Nelson, Ohio, USA, on July 17, 2004

• Oxygen is a very reactive element that easily forms compounds such as oxides
  

• Under standard temperature and pressure conditions two oxygen atoms join to form dioxygen (O2), a colorless, tasteless and odorless gas

• Oxygen is essential to human life, it is found in the air we breathe and the water we drink (H20)

• Oxygen makes up around 21% of the air you breathe. It is also the most common element in the Earth’s crust (around 47%) and the third most common element in the Universe (but far less than hydrogen and helium, the two most common)

• Oxygen has a number of other practical uses such as smelting metal from ore, water treatment, as an oxidizer for rocket fuel and a number of other industrial, chemical and scientific applications

• Concentrated oxygen promotes fast combustion. While a spark or heat is still needed to start a fire, having concentrated oxygen near various fuels can be very dangerous

• A single tree produces approximately 260 pounds of oxygen per year. That means two mature trees can supply enough oxygen annually to support a family of four

• A runner consumes about seven quarts of oxygen while running a 100-yard dash

• Firefighters in Florida are carrying oxygen masks for saving animals from smoke inhalation

• A 50 by 50 foot turfgrass lawn (2,500 square feet) releases enough oxygen for a family of four