Why is the oxygen percentage different in inhaled and exhaled air?

Answer 1

Oxygen must be dissolved into water, the colder the water, the better (this is the opposite for dissolving solids, where the hotter the water/solvent the more you tend to dissolve in it). Hence by boiling water we eliminate most of the dissolved oxygen (and other gases), giving you all those bubbles as it boils.

In air however, it is free to merely float around and mix with whatever is there already (mostly nitrogen) - there is little or no pressure on it to condense to liquid or deposit as solid.

Oxygen, at temperatures (and pressures) on the earth, tends to prefer to be a gas.

Answer 2

You need oxygen to live because it functions in cellular respiration, which supplies you with energy. Oxygen is used up and carbon dioxide is produced. When you inhale, you are taking in oxygen to supply your body with it. When you exhale, you are releasing the carbon dioxide because your body doesn't need it. You don't release the same amount of oxygen that you breathed in because your body needs it.

Answer 3

Each time you breathe in your body goes through cellular respiration, which takes glucose (C6H12O6) and oxygen (O2) and turns it into water (H2O) Carbon Dioxide (CO2) and Energy (ATP), the Carbon Dioxide is breathed out in place of the used up oxygen. When you breathe in then all that oxygen is translated into carbon dioxide, as previously stated, which is breathed out.

Answer 4

When we inhale, we take in oxygen from the air, but when we exhale, we release carbon dioxide that our body has produced. This exchange of gases in our lungs results in a lower percentage of oxygen in exhaled air compared to inhaled air.

Answer 5

The answer is if there was more oxygen then it would lead to a blast every time there was a spark

Answer 6

Sea water holds much less oxygen than air and even less as temperature increases.

Air: 210 mL oxygen per litre;

Water (0ºC): 8.0 mL per litre; water (20ºC): 5.4 mL per litre

Answer 7

Simple. The air around us has a lot more oxygen than water does. A fish can't breathe above water because it's taking in TOO much oxygen.

Answer 8

Oxygen is absorbed from inhaled air and used by the body, so there is less oxygen to be exhaled.

Answer 9

Air is a mixture of gases; the solubility of oxygen in water is limited.