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Air is made up of different gases such as oxygen, nitrogen and carbon dioxide. How would you best describe these three components of air?

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Last updated date: 29th Jun 2024
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Answer
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Hint: Air plays a very important role in the survival of living things. Air is defined as a mixture of different gases. It is also known as atmosphere. Air is made up of different gases which include nitrogen, carbon dioxide, oxygen and many other gases in small amounts.

Complete step-by-step answer:Let us describe these three components of air that includes nitrogen, oxygen and carbon dioxide-
Firstly we will discuss about Nitrogen,
NITROGEN
It is the most abundant gas with the concentration of 78%. It is denoted with a symbol N and has atomic number 7. Production of nitrogen takes place from a process called nitrogen fixation. Nitrogen fixation is a continuous cycle between living organisms and atmosphere. We can also produce nitrogen from fractional distillation of air in the liquid form. Nitrogen is present in living organisms in a form of amino acids and nucleic acid. It is very difficult to decompose nitrogen because dinitrogen is bonded with a strong triple bond and hence the process of decomposition includes explosion.
OXYGEN
Oxygen is the most important element of air with a concentration of 21%. It is denoted with a symbol O and has atomic number 8. It readily forms bonds with other elements known as oxides because of its highly reactive nature. It can easily catch fire that means it is combustible. For living organisms, dioxygen is used for breathing and respiration.
CARBON DIOXIDE
The concentration of carbon dioxide is 0.04% which is denoted with a symbol $C{{O}_{2}}$ . It is a trace gas which is produced through decomposition of organic materials and respiration. When combustion of natural gas takes place, carbon dioxide is released. It is trace gas but its amount is rapidly increasing due to air pollution because of various activities like deforestation and industrialization. It results in many health problems like lung diseases.

Note: The earth is covered with a blanket known as atmosphere which is made up of various gases. It consists of 78% nitrogen, 21% oxygen and 0.04% carbon dioxide. Other components of air include methane, sulphur dioxide, ozone, ammonia, argon, helium, xenon and hydrogen.