Hi, today we are going to discuss the importance of air in breathing and combustion. Air is required for various purposes for example we need air for breath, we need air for combustion and another major importance of air is air regulate the temperature.
Around our planet earth there is a thick layer of air in which we live. The air density varies with altitude, its density is most at near ground due to gravity and it extends upto some distance after that air density becomes very low. The air layer makes a shield around the earth which makes us safe against the harmful radiation coming from space.
Our atmosphere is a mixture of various gases which makes us live on our planet earth. Major composition of earth’s atmosphere is oxygen, nitrogen, carbon dioxide and other gases and all of them have specific roles to sustain life on earth.
Air protects us in different ways but their major function of air is to help living organisms to breathe, help in combustion and help to regulate the temperature on earth. Now we will discuss how air helps us to breathe, how air helps in combustion and how air regulates the temperature.
Importance of Air in Breathing:
Two components of air oxygen and carbon dioxide both are very important for maintaining life on earth. The oxygen present in air is required for all living organisms including human beings and plants to release the energy from the food molecules they take for maintaining their life.
Without oxygen it is not possible to break down the food molecules completely to release the energy which is required to maintain various cellular activity in living systems. After the complete breakdown of food molecules, carbon dioxide is released as a by product which is again important for plants.
Because plants need carbon dioxide to prepare their food and in this process oxygen is released as a by product which is again important for all organisms for respiration. Balance between the two gases in atmosphere oxygen and carbon dioxide is necessary to maintain life on earth so we are now aware about why air is so important in breathing.
Importance of Air in Combustion:
Another importance of air is its need for the combustion process but before we discuss more we discuss what is combustion. Combustion is a chemical reaction where oxygen reacts with different chemicals to release energy in the form of heat, light which can be used in our daily life for source of energy.
The energy we get from fuel is due to combustion and for combustion the components of air oxygen is required. But excess oxygen may lead to uncontrolled combustion which means release of a huge amount of energy in a short span and it is very dangerous.
But nitrogen present in the atmosphere prevents uncontrolled combustion because it reduces the reactivity of oxygen so we can say that oxygen and nitrogen help in combustion in a controlled way in our everyday life.
How Air Regulate Atmospheric Temperature:
Sunlight comes to earth and reaches to the surface of earth which makes the earth surface hot during daytime. The air near the earth’s surface becomes hot and low density, which start rise upward and the colder air fills the space of hot air.
For this reason wind flow and temperature distribute equally in all areas otherwise the earth would be very warm during daytime and very cold during night. When an area becomes very warm the air of that area goes upward and the surrounding cold air rush to that area to fill the low pressure created due to warm air it prevents overheating on earth.
In this way air regulates the temperature on earth and makes our earth suitable for all living organisms who do not tolerate an extreme range of temperatures.
Reference: Importance of Air in Breathing and Combustion
Read More: Air Pollution Causes and its Control
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