Importance of air

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1. Essential supplier of energy: All living beings including plants & animals are dependent on air oxygen for generation of valuable life energy. Body cells take up oxygen from blood and generate energy from food in the form of ATP. This biochemical generation of ATP is a basic requirement to sustain life on earth.
2. Air is a conducting medium for sound: We can hear sound of speech or cry or noise etc. only in the presence of air. This is because air is a good conductor of sound. Without air we do-not or cannot hear sounds.

Even the music instruments make use of resonance and bass with the alteration of air and sound combination.

Air supports water cycle: Water cycle is a phenomenon where in water from soil, oceans and seas is evaporated due to Sun’ s heat and form clouds.

These clouds travel on to land surface, get cooled by air and shower as rain. This rain water some how again reaches the Sea’s and Ocean’s. So air helps in transfer or movement of clouds towards the earth surface and also cools them to shower the rain.

Hence we can find heavy rains at places of many trees as air gets cooled there in comparison to deserts.

4. Air helps in pollination of crops: Plants produce male gametes in the form of pollen grains. These pollen travel from male flower to female flower and unite with female gametes. This is called as pollination. This can happen within flowers of the same plant or between distant one’s through air wind. Thus air helps in cross- pollination in plants. Hence forth going into a grown farm causes nasal stuffiness as the pollen cause allergy to nasal tract when breathed in. This helps in agriculture as cross pollination leads to higher yield.

5. Air maintains temperature on the earth surface: During summers when there is heavy sunshine, the temperature of earth’s surface rises rapidly but slowly on ocean or sea surface (this is because solid gets heated faster than liquid water). So air which gets heated on earth surface rises up and cold air from sea surface moves on to the earth surface thus minimizing the rise in temperature.
6. Bring monsoon: Monsoons are the ones by which we have rains in rainy season. This is done due to currents of wind (air) across the earth surface. Lack of wind can delay monsoons and rains and there by deplete water levels for drinking, irrigation and other usage in our daily lives.
7. Air helps in transport: Air transport by flights and helicopters has come into widespread use. Even for birds and insects air is the chief mode of transport.

Air transport is quicker than land and water transport. There is less friction so the vehicles travels faster. Further the travel is in vector mode i.e from one point to another in a straight direction (so short cut route). So the travel is direction based to a large extent and distance based to small extent making the transport very fast.

8. Aerodynamics in landing: Parachutes, hot air balloons are used to safely land from flights in case of need.Air transport is quicker than land and water transport. There is less friction so the vehicles travels faster. Further the travel is in vector mode i.e from one point to another in a straight direction (so short cut route). So the travel is direction based to a large extent and distance based to small extent making the transport very fast.
9. Aerodynamics in landing: Parachutes, hot air balloons are used to safely land from flights in case of need.

These flying chute reach the land safely due to buoyancy and pressure of air upwards.

9. Air helps in drying (humidity balance): Land when gets wet by rains is dried due to air. The air on the immediate wet surface is very moist. So these moist layers of air are replaced by less moist or dry layers of air. The new dry layer on the surface takes up moisture from wet surface and the cycle continues till the surface dries. Thus air help in drying by maintenance of humidity. Even our clothes when washed gets dried by same manner.
10. Air helps in normalizing Temperature: A piece of ice melts due to air and hot piece of metal cools due to air. Here air acts as a heat conductor and tries to bring these materials to normal surrounding temperature. Hence the phenomenon of ice melting and metal cooling is seen.
11. 11. Air helps reduce friction in tires: Another area where the importance of air is prominent is automobiles.

Since the time of automobile emergence their wheels are filled with air inside the rubber tubes of wheels.

With advancement of technology, we have self sealing tubes, tubeless tires etc. But they are not airless tires This is because air inflates tires and helps reduce friction. Decrease in friction enables easy movement of the vehicle.

12. Air minimizes pollution: Environmental issues pollution is a key concern as current life style leads to all sort of pollution. Air helps to minimize air pollution, sound pollution. Without air our big cities would have been vacant due to clogging of polluted gases in the atmosphere. Air blows and spreads the pollution to distance places making towns and cities suitable places to live.

13. Wind power (electricity): Flow of air at high speeds is called wind. Wind is used to generate power by installation of wind turbines.

These turbines rotate under the influence of wind and generate electric energy. This electric energy is non polluting and can be generated at any place on earth for domestic use. So besides sun-light, even wind is a free resource for generation of energy.

14. Importance of air pressure: Air pressure is important for activities like spraying (pesticides), spreading (in sterilization by autoclave), forming of droplets etc. Air helps liquid and other powder forms to disperse into fine droplets or particles. This air pressure has many applications. In sterilization by using autoclave, steam under pressure spreads into cavities of material to help effective microbial kill.
15. Vacuum or suction pressure: Vacuum or suction pressure is created due to lack of air inside a cavity or pipe. This is useful for water pumping (bore wells), vacuum cleaner etc. Due lack of air there is intense negative pressure which lets water to move up inside the vacuum space. This is how water is pumped from bore wells and sump to the surface or top of the buildings.