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We wouldn't be able to use oxygen to burn fuel to produce energy. In our cells this takes place in specialized organelles called mitochondria, which organize the enzyme pathways needed to run the Krebs Cycle, which transfers electrons from food to oxygen and generates 32 molecules of the currency of energy, ATP, from each food molecule.

The whole anatomical structure of the Respiratory System - trachea, lungs, etc. - exists just to deliver oxygen in a timely manner to those mitochondria.

Without it, our cells would have to get by on the ancient system of Fermentation, which is what cells used prior to Earth's having an oxygen-rich atmosphere, billions of years ago. Fermentation only yields 2 ATP per sugar molecule, as opposed to 32. You can see why respiration became preferred by Evolution!

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15y ago

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