• Question: what would happen if the world completely lost oxygen for 5-10 seconds?

    Asked by to Greig on 16 Jun 2014. This question was also asked by .
    • Photo: Greig Cowan

      Greig Cowan answered on 16 Jun 2014:

      In the first instance, I think everyone would get a big fright!

      For people just working away or sleeping, it probably wouldn’t be a big issue: most of us can hold our breath for at least this long without any problems. However, there could be a problem for some animal and insect life.

      Since oxygen is a requirement for burning things, a lack of oxygen would make it difficult to generate power in car engines, aeroplane engines, coal and gas fired power stations. Therefore, many of these generators might stop if the oxygen was removed for a short time. This would have a knock on effect in the many industries that need power. However, since we are only talking 5-10 seconds, I don’t think it would be a huge issue.

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