What Would Happen If Our Planet Lost Oxygen For 5 Seconds

Try holding your breath for five seconds. No big deal, right? Well, that’s us. We take oxygen for granted every day thinking, hey, it’s always gonna be there. But have you ever wondered what if all of a sudden, poof – oxygen’s gone. Even for just 5 seconds, what happens then?

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Everyone at the beach would get sunburns.

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Ozone is molecular oxygen, and blocks the majority of UV light. Without it we are toast.

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The day-time sky would get darker.

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With fewer particles in the atmosphere to scatter blue light, the sky would get a bit less blue and a bit more black.

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All pieces of untreated metal would instantly spot weld to each other.

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This is one of the more interesting side effects. The reason metals don’t weld on contact is they are coated in a layer of oxidation.

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Everything above ground would immediately go into free fall.

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Oxygen makes up about 45% of the Earth’s crust and mantle, there is suddenly a lot less “stuff” beneath your feet to hold everything up.

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Everyone’s inner ear would explode.

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Because we would lose about 21% of the air pressure in an instant (from sea level to 2000m elevation), so expect some serious hearing loss.

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Every building made out of concrete would turn to dust.

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Oxygen is an important binder in concrete structures, and without it the compounds do not hold their rigidity.

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Every living cell would explode in a haze of hydrogen gas. Water is 88.8% oxygen; without it the hydrogen turns into gaseous state and expands in volume.

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The oceans would evaporate and bleed into space.

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As oxygen disappears from the oceans’ water, the hydrogen component becomes an unbound free gas. Hydrogen gas, being the lightest, will rise to the upper troposphere and slowly bleed into space through Atmospheric escape.