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... question.
The average person takes 12–20 breaths per minute. Multiply that out for an average of approximately 17,280–28,800 breaths per day. The human respiratory system is responsible for all this activity. It brings in oxygen and allows us to get rid of carbon dioxide gas. From the first breath you take to the last one, you are using oxygen and producing carbon dioxide that needs to be removed from your body.
The oxygen you bring into your body is used for what purpose?
All human beings require oxygen, water, and food to survive. Of the three, we would die more quickly without oxygen than without the other two. Oxygen is inhaled into the lungs and enters our blood through alveoli. The oxygen is carried to the rest of the body through the blood. The oxygen is used to make water molecules. Water makes up the vast majority of our body tissue. In addition, nearly every function that keeps us alive uses oxygen as the source of energy. Oxygen is the prime ingredient for our body’s metabolism, the process that changes food into the fuel we need to continue living.
