Everything that would happen to your body if we lost oxygen for 60 seconds
Our bodies need oxygen to survive, that's a fact. So, it's a good thing that planet Earth's atmosphere is made up of around 21% oxygen. Out of all the planets in the solar system, the Earth appears to be the only one with a breathable atmosphere. While Mars and Venus are the only other ones thought to be able to support life, the Earth is the perfect cocktail that's allowed life to evolve over the past 4.5 billion years.
There are fears that time is running out for the human race, and whether we're taken out by murderous artificial intelligence, eliminated by a giant asteroid, or blown up by our nuclear war, most of us are thankful that we (hopefully) won't be around to see mankind's extinction.
Giving us something else to worry about, two simulations from The Infographics Show reveal what would happen to the Earth if it lost oxygen for just 60 seconds.
Advert
Although the human body can survive without oxygen for a couple of minutes depending on someone's metabolic rate, side effects include loss of consciousness, brain damage, and eventual death.
According to The Infographics Show, the fate of the Earth without oxygen would depend on whether it was only the oxygen in the atmosphere that went, or whether it included oxygen in everything from rocks to water.
If just the oxygen in the atmosphere vanished, the first thing you'd notice is a change to the color of the sky due to rays from the Sun having fewer gasses to pass through.
That's the least of your worries, and due to the sudden change in pressure, your inner ear would explode. Inhaling oxygen-free air, you begin to panic as your body can't replenish its depleting oxygen supplies.
An unexpected side effect is that the engines in cars and planes need oxygen to run, with all flights around the globe crashing to the Earth within 30 seconds.
As we begin to asphyxiate, the lack of the Ozone layer leads to us being burned by radiation from the Sun. Without oxygen in the atmosphere, ice caps would melt, the oceans would boil, and after a minute, there would be millions of casualties around the globe. Still, as long as oxygen returns to the atmosphere, most would survive with medical attention.
The second scenario reveals what would happen if all oxygen on Earth went for 60 seconds - and it's even more grim.
The Infographics Show explains that without oxygen, molecules fall apart: "What this means for you is that a second after all oxygen disappears, you and every living thing on the planet would not exist anymore.
“All that would be left would be a plethora of atoms floating around and recombining with one another."
Buildings, mountains, and the planet itself would end up being a mass of particles floating in space. After losing its oxygen, the oceans would be made of hydrogen and simply float away.
If oxygen returned to Earth after 60 seconds, water would fall from the sky and we'd end up with a water planet. With life evolving on Earth over billions of years, the video suggests that even if Earth was decimated by a loss of oxygen, a very different kind of life could eventually reform one day.
Either way, it shows just how important oxygen is, not just to the survival of the human race, but to the Earth as a planet.