What would actually happen if Earth lost oxygen as NASA reveals we're already 'running out'
Oxygen is fundamentally the most important component to our bodies as humans, but it also is a vital part of many systems and mechanisms worldwide, meaning even a small loss would have significant negative consequences.
Humans simply can't function without oxygen, so the recent announcement from NASA that Earth is officially 'running out of oxygen' has certainly left many terrified for a future that could put all of our lives at risk.
While NASA's prediction is slightly far-fetched, with scientists warning that the 'great deoxygenation' is likely to occur within the next 10,000 years, it has made people wonder quite how much of an effect even small reductions in oxygen availability would have on the world.
Thankfully a detailed simulation produced by YouTube channel What If reveals how humans and the planet would cope if Earth progressively lost 1% of it's oxygen availability every second, and the result certainly isn't pretty.
What would happen if Earth lost its oxygen?
The nature of What If's simulation gives us a picture of the progressive loss of oxygen across time, as opposed to a sudden removal of all oxygen from the planet.
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This lets us see exactly how our bodies would react to certain levels of availability, before suffering from the complete loss of all available oxygen by the end of the simulation.
Starting at a 10% reduction you would typically begin to feel more tired, as if you were at a point high up on a mountain where there is typically less oxygen available anyway, although the effects wouldn't be that severe.
Things start to become more dangerous when you approach a 30% reduction in oxygen, as any form of physical activity is now far more strenuous for the average person, and you'll find yourself gasping for air and hyperventilating as a result.
Hospital patients suffering from heart and lung issues would also be at risk of death due to the increased strain on their bodies as it searches for more oxygen, and animals would also suffer with birds beginning to fall out of the sky.
Electrical systems would also start to shut down, causing transport, medical services, and financial systems to go into crisis mode — perhaps akin to the jaw-dropping effects of a solar storm.
You also couldn't drive any non-electric cars or rely on planes to travel as the former has combustion engines that rely on oxygen to function, and planes also require oxygen to help burn fuel at higher altitudes.
At the 50% reduction level your brain will struggle to function as it simply can't receive enough oxygen, causing mass confusion, poor judgement, and major health risks.
Environmentally the ozone layer will also suffer as that is made up of oxygen, causing harmful UV rays to enter Earth from the Sun, although considering the other effects this would be the least of our issues.
One Earth reaches the point where 99% of the oxygen across the world is gone, there would simply be nothing left alive across humans, animals, and even the planet itself.
With the human body being comprised of 65% oxygen, the lack of the vital molecule means that our bodies would become a 'pulpy mess', and buildings would disintegrate as there is nothing to hold the concrete together.
Even if oxygen were to be fully restored, once you reach this point there is simply no going back, and it would take at least several billion years (if at all) for life to start to regenerate.
So, while NASA's deoxygenation prediction is very much in the distant future, even the slightest drops in oxygen levels would have a noticable effect on Earth, and if this was to continue to accelerate closer to our current time period then we would be in serious trouble.