What do we know about oxygen as ordinary people, not scientists? Probably that it is the most important element on Earth, being an essential part of the air that surrounds us everywhere. Without oxygen, living beings cannot exist.

1. When oxygen first appeared on Earth, it destroyed nearly 99% of all life.

2. The first mention of this unique substance can be found in manuscripts from the 8th century, written by Chinese alchemist Mao Hua. It is also known that Leonardo da Vinci studied oxygen chemistry without realizing that it was an element.

3. The official discoverer of oxygen is British naturalist Joseph Priestley, who conducted an experiment in the summer of 1774 by decomposing mercuric oxide.

4. All the greenery on our planet produces about 3 trillion tons of oxygen in just one year. However, its concentration in the atmosphere today is 21%, whereas a few million years ago, it was nearly double at 37-40%. Oxygen levels below 8% are considered a threat to life.

5. One tree produces about 118 kg of oxygen per year. This means that two adult trees can supply enough oxygen to sustain a family of four annually.

6. The brain can survive for 4-6 minutes without oxygen before it starts to die.

7. The cornea of the eye absorbs oxygen directly from the air. The human cornea lacks blood vessels, and oxygen enters through diffusion from the tear fluid on the outer surface. That’s why our eyes dry out in low-oxygen environments.

8. Oxygen is also utilized in medicine and cosmetology. It is used to assist patients with cardiovascular diseases, hypoxia of various origins, bronchial asthma, shock, and suffocation. Oxygen cocktails are also used to strengthen the immune system and prevent many ailments.

9. On his deathbed, Steve Jobs refused to wear an oxygen mask because he didn’t like its design.

10. If our planet were to lose oxygen for even a few seconds, phenomena such as darkening of the daytime sky, earth’s crust exploding, water turning into vapor (hydrogen would simply become gaseous), and concrete structures turning into ruins would occur.

11. If the concentration of oxygen in the air increases exponentially, all aerobic organisms, including humans, would die from hyperventilation, and trees would continue to burn even if it rained.

12. The country with the cleanest air is Switzerland, while the country with the most polluted air is China.

13. On average, a person takes about twenty-two thousand breaths per day.

14. The taiga is called the “lungs of the planet“ because it produces the majority of the Earth’s oxygen.