Why Earth Produces Oxygen While Other Planets Don't? This Is The Explanation Of Scientists

Scientists discover early formation of oxygen on Earth (NASA Gov)

JAKARTA – Oxygen is an important element to sustain life. However, the process of increasing oxygen levels in the Earth's atmosphere is still a debate among scientists.

Reporting from Slashgear, a team of researchers proposed an interesting explanation for the increase in oxygen levels in Earth's atmosphere. Scientists believe that the longer days are a result of the Earth's slowing rotation, allowing microbes to release more oxygen and form the oxygen-rich atmosphere it is today.

The scientists revealed that most of the oxygen on this planet is the result of the photosynthesis process of an organism called cyanobacteria when the planet Earth was uninhabited.

They also say that cyanobacteria evolved more than 2.4 billion years ago and helped turn the planet into a habitable planet by releasing a lot of oxygen. This was revealed after researchers studied cyanobacteria in Lake Huron, Michigan, USA.

From these studies revealed that cyanobacteria already existed in the early Earth. Life at the bottom of the lake is mostly microbial. They also note that these conditions are similar to microbes that have existed on the planet for billions of years.

Cyanobacteria which are oxygen producers have to compete with white sulfur oxidizing bacteria. The research team also explained that sulfur-eating bacteria block cyanobacteria from sunlight from dusk to dawn.

The sulfur-eating bacteria then move to the bottom and the cyanobacteria push up to the surface. At this point the cyanobacteria can photosynthesize within a few hours each day.

This process led the researchers to hypothesize that changes in the length of the day in ancient Earth could have an impact on photosynthesis. They also added that the days were noticeably shorter when the Earth-moon system was already formed.