Nitrogen, oxygen and argon make up the chief of these gases at approximately 78, 21, and 1 percent by volume. Small amounts of water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrogen dioxide and sulfur dioxide are also part of our air. Nitrogen (N2) is one of the most common elements that makes up our air and earth.
Similarly, you may ask, what happens to the other gases we breathe in?
Basically when air fills our alveoli, by the process of diffusion, only oxygen in the air is taken into the blood stream while the other gases along with the waste CO2 is exhaled. So you do breathe in nitrogen, but it is exhaled as it is by the body.
What is the main gas in the air that we breathe?
The most common gas people breathe from clean air is nitrogen. Air is a mixture of gases, and the air on Earth contains about 78 percent nitrogen and about 21 percent oxygen. Argon, carbon dioxide neon, helium, methane, krypton, hydrogen and xenon are in much smaller amounts.
What gas do we need to survive?
Nitrogen and oxygen make up about 99 percent of Earth's air. People and other animals need oxygen to live. Carbon dioxide, a gas that plants depend on, makes up less than .04 percent. Plants and animals each produce the gases that the other needs to live.