955

submitted 2 months ago by fossilesque@mander.xyz to c/science_memes@mander.xyz

106 comments fedilink hide all child comments

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[-] azi@mander.xyz 6 points 2 months ago

Organisms need some oxidizing agent to respire. We use oxygen because it's very highly reactive and thanks to photosynthesis is goddamn everywhere.

[-] Paradachshund@lemmy.today 4 points 2 months ago

Can you explain that first part in more detail? I really know nothing about this and I'm curious to hear more.

[-] Tlaloc_Temporal@lemmy.ca 7 points 2 months ago

Fire gets it's energy from fuel+oxygen. Most life does too. Plants (and other photosynthetic organisms) can also get energy from light but that requires you to sit in the sun doing not much for a long time. There's also chemosynthesis, where energy is obtained from a chemical reaction, but that's usually not nearly as powerful as oxidation.

Put another way, a car with NOS is way faster and more powerful than one without. So too is life that uses oxygen more powerful than life that doesn't.

[-] Paradachshund@lemmy.today 3 points 2 months ago

That's really interesting. I didn't realize the burning in slow motion thing was so literal. Thanks for the comment!

[-] chatokun@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 2 months ago

It's so ingrained in our life processes. You know Calories? The capital C version(or Kcal in some countries) is 1000 calories. What do they measure? The potential heat whatever is being measured can generate. Our fuel intake is measured by how well it burns.