My teacher says we live in an ocean of oxygen, but I don't oceans have water?

Question

My teacher says we live in an ocean of oxygen, but I don't oceans have water? I don't see any water around.

Answer 1

<sigh>

An 'ocean' is a colloquial term meaning 'a large mas or body' of something (usually a fluid or something that is fluid like).  And air *is* a fluid.  It's just a compressible fluid (unlike water)

HTH ☺

Doug

Answer 2

we definatly dont live in an ocean of oxygen. our air is mostly nitrogen!!!!! ocean is a word that can mean more than just water, its a large body of something.....

Answer 3

we live in an ocean of overpaid teachers.........

Answer 4

Really ? tell ya professor that only 16%-20% of the Atmosphere we live in is "Oxygen",  it's mostly made up of "Nitrogen", if it was all "O2", results would be disastrous, anytime we lit a match.

Answer 5

in the normal sense, yes, oceans refer to the giant bodies of water around the world.  but your teacher was probably being metaphorical-- saying that we're immersed in a gigantic pool of air.  and here's what miriam-webster dictionary defines "ocean" as:

1: the whole body of salt water that covers nearly three fourths of the surface of the earth or any of the large bodies of water (as the Atlantic Ocean) into which the great ocean is divided

2 : a very large or unlimited space or quantity

so you could say it the way your teacher used it, but I don't think many people use the word "ocean" in that sense

Answer 6

Instead of water there is oxygen and you take things way to literal.

Answer 7

It is just a figure of speech. Like when you say you have a ton of homework, you do not really have 2,000 pounds of homework.

Answer 8

Your teacher is using a metaphor, saying that the atmosphere (air) around us is like an ocean, not that it is an ocean.  Air has weight (more precisely, air has mass), and is held to the Earth by gravity.  Water is much denser (heavier) than air.

You might be interested in learning about something called a brine pool.  Brine pools can be found in some locations at the bottom of the oceans.  They consist of a saltwater concentration that is heavier than normal ocean water, and there are even waves on the surface (where the normal saltwater meets the brine pool water) of a brine pool.

Answer 9

You ought to go and live in Wales.

Answer 10

I think your teacher meant it as an analogy. If you think about it we do live in an ocean of oxygen and other elements like nitrogen. Air is to us as water is to fish except we cannot move in the Z axis as fish can. Note that other organisms live happily in other mediums that are neither air nor water.