A Brief History of Oxygen

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Abstract

Where did oxygen come from? Remarkably, that atom of oxygen you have just breathed had its origin in the heart of an ancient star. To understand this, one has to make an imaginary journey back to the creation of the universe, the “big bang,” more than 12 BYA. We shall avoid details of physics, and simply describe a reasonable scenario that is accepted by most physicists today.

Keywords

Ancient Hydrogen Solar Nebula Oxygenic Photosynthesis Hydrogen Burning Strict Anaerobe 
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
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Copyright information

© Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2011

Authors and Affiliations

  1. 1.Institut für Molekulare BiophysikJohannes Gutenberg-Universität MainzMainzGermany
  2. 2.Dept of Biochemistry and BiophysicsOregon State UniversityCorvallisUSA

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