by 
PAPIYPAPI
ANSWERS: 3
-
Free oxygen is created in the oceans, but it is created by phytoplankton, microscopic single-celled algae. Millions of tons of phytoplankton "bloom" across the world's oceans every year, and this accounts for about 50% of atmospheric oxygen. The other 50% comes from plants on land. Without plants, there are no processes which would keep the atmosphere full of oxygen; non-biological processes could only contribute to there being about 0.5% free oxygen as opposed to the current proportion of roughly 21% of the atmosphere. htronennyl: Of course plants do not "create" the element itself, but they do "create" O2, the free oxygen molecule in our atmosphere. Perhaps the answer seemed unclear, but I hope this edit has cleared that up.
-
from mars u idiots...
-
Oxygen, and all the other elements of the periodic table except hydrogen, is basically stardust. After the big bang, the energy cooled down and formed hydrogen (one proton). Through gravity, this matter formed huge stars, and because of the pressure, hydrogen atoms fused together to form helium (two protons) and energy (this is why the sun's so hot, the process is still going on in our sun). When a star gets older, and most of the hydrogen is used up, it starts to fuse helium together into elements with more protons (or the star either explodes or implodes, depending on size).
RELATED QUESTIONS
Copyright 2023, Wired Ivy, LLC