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Oxygen may not be the main constituent of the Earth's
atmosphere, but its role in the survival of many forms of life elevates
its significance. No one can live without sufficient quantity of food,
water and oxygen. Of the three, oxygen is by far the most important and
urgently needed. Have you ever imagined what if oxygen from the Earth
was lost for 5 seconds? To find out more read below..
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Everyone at the beach would get sunburns. Ozone is molecular oxygen and
blocks the majority of UV light. Without it, we are toast.
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The daytime sky would get darker. 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 one another.
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. In
vacuum conditions, metal welds without any intermediate liquid phase
(Cold welding).
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Everything above ground would immediately go into free fall. As oxygen
makes up about 45 percent 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. As mentioned, we would lose about 21
percent of the air pressure in an instant, equivalent to being
teleported to the top of the high Andes (elevation, about 2,000 meters).
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Every building made out of concrete would turn to dust. Oxygen is an
important binder in concrete structures (really, the CO2 is), 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 one
third oxygen; without it, the hydrogen turns into gaseous state and
expands in volume.
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