Why oxygen is essential for life

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[edit] Introductory Note

The discovery of Oxygen was credited to Priestley in 1774 AD. However in a paper looking into Alchemy, by Richard Brzezinski, an expert in the history of science and Zbigniew Szydlo, a chemistry lecturer, published in the authoritative magazine History Today credit the discovery of Oxygen to a Polish alchemist called Michael Sendivogius who found that heated saltpeter produced "the elixir of life" and who, in 1604, described his experiments in a book regarded as so authoritative that it found its way into every major scientific library in Europe. They say that Priestley, would surely have had access to it. Cornelis Drebbel a Dutch inventor employed by the King of England James 1 in 1621 used Sendivogius work which was about 150 years before Priestley was credited with the discovery of Oxygen. Drebbel built a submarine which was manned by 12 oarsmen, made of wood and waterproofed by a coat of greases leather. It successfully traveled along the River Thames from Westminster to Greenwich, at a dept of 15 ft. The trip, and the method used to keep the oarsmen alive, was subsequently verified by Robert Boyle.

[edit] Reason

Everyone knows that the body needs oxygen in order to live. So much emphasis has been placed on oxygen as the essential element allowing us to exist on the planet, that we tend to forget the other equally essential element namely hydrogen. Without hydrogen to combine with oxygen we wouldn't have water. Oxygen burns hydrogen in the living system, releasing the energy that runs our bodies. Hydrogen is "the fuel of life." It is essential to most biological processes in its atomic form, positive proton form or negative ion form. Studies have shown that the human body stores hydrogen in its tissues. As we age, tissue hydrogen-depletion may lead to many of the symptoms of the aging process. This may cause sub-clinical dehydration since it appears that hydrogen may play a role in hydrating our cells. Hydrogen makes up 90% of the matter in the known Universe; helium makes up 9%. All the other elements in the Universe are found in the remaining 1%. Since hydrogen is so abundant, you would think that we know all there is to know about it, but we are just now learning about its importance in the living system.

The word hydrogen comes from the Greek language and it means "water-former." Indeed, we all know that water, the matrix or mother of life, is made from hydrogen and oxygen. In fact, water is formed when hydrogen is burned by oxygen. We create pure water every day as a product of our metabolism. When we burn hydrogen in our cells, the energy that is released is used to run our bodies. Hydrogen is the lightest and smallest element known to science. Due to its small size, hydrogen easily travels throughout the body. It can also loosely hold another electron (in its outer shell), in which case it is called H minus (H-) or reduced hydrogen. No electron moves in the living system unless it is accompanied by hydrogen. In the absence of an adequate supply of negative hydrogen ions, intracellular function, intercellular communication and energy production are inhibited, toxins and free radicals accumulate and health deteriorates.

[edit] Related Articles

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[edit] More

• All forms of life need oxygen in one way or another. Animals, like us and plants too.

• If oxygen is everywhere why can’t we smell it ? taste it? see it? First of all it has no odor and it tastes like nothing and it is also colorless.

• Liquid and solid oxygen are pale blueish.

• Oxygen is a nonmetal ( poor electric conductors etc).

• Oxygen gas is a variant of Ozone, O2 and O3 is pure oxygen.

• Oxygen supports combustion.

• About 2/3 of the human body contains oxygen or cells with oxygen on them.

• Oxygen is responsible for the auroras in the northern hemisphere.

[edit] References

1. Discovery of Oxygen

2. Oxygen

3. Some facts about Oxygen

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