Summary:
- Every second, the sun fuses over 600 million tons of hydrogen into 596 tons of helium.
- About 1% of the light which reaches the Earth’s surface participates in photosynthesis.
- All the oxygen that is necessary to maintain most forms of life just happens to come about during this process.
- The oxygen given off supplies most of the oxygen in our atmosphere.
- Most contemporary organisms rely on oxygen for efficient respiration.
- So plants don’t just ‘restore’ the air, they also had a major role in creating it.