Respiritory System ... (Breathing)
Here we can talk about how air gets into and out of the body and also how it is used, once its in there.
One cool thing is that people think about breathing as sucking in air and blowing it out, but its actually more interesting than that.
A process called DIFFUSION is key here, as it is to many physiological things. Diffusion happens when in one part of an area, there are lots more particles of one type than in the rest of the area. Diffusion causes the previously concentrated particles to move, so that there is an even distribution of the particles in the area. An example is when food is cooking. Smell particles are concentrated around the cooker, but then diffuse around the house (meaning you can smell the food). Diffusion is the process where particles move from an area of high concentration, to an area of low concentration.
One cool thing is that people think about breathing as sucking in air and blowing it out, but its actually more interesting than that.
A process called DIFFUSION is key here, as it is to many physiological things. Diffusion happens when in one part of an area, there are lots more particles of one type than in the rest of the area. Diffusion causes the previously concentrated particles to move, so that there is an even distribution of the particles in the area. An example is when food is cooking. Smell particles are concentrated around the cooker, but then diffuse around the house (meaning you can smell the food). Diffusion is the process where particles move from an area of high concentration, to an area of low concentration.
Anyway. The point is that when you breath in, muscles between your ribs contract and pull your chest up. This makes the area inside the lungs bigger, while there are still the same number of air particles in them as before, meaning that the air particles are in a smaller concentration than before. This also means that now the air particles are in a smaller concentration inside the lungs, than the concentration of air particles outside of the lungs. This causes air to DIFFUSE from outside the body (where they are more concentrated), to inside the lungs (where they are less concentrated).
Hey presto – you have just breathed in! (Breathing out is pretty much the same process, just in reverse).
Well, now you’ve got air in your lungs, what are you going to do with it?
Ok, first of all, the air has came through your mouth or nose, past your pharynx (behind the back of your nose and mouth), past your larynx (at the start of the tongue) and down your trachea. The trachea is a tube, that splits into 2 tubes called bronchi, which go into each lung. The bronchi then divide further, into smaller tubes called bronchioles. Bronchioles then divide further and finally form alveoli.
Hey presto – you have just breathed in! (Breathing out is pretty much the same process, just in reverse).
Well, now you’ve got air in your lungs, what are you going to do with it?
Ok, first of all, the air has came through your mouth or nose, past your pharynx (behind the back of your nose and mouth), past your larynx (at the start of the tongue) and down your trachea. The trachea is a tube, that splits into 2 tubes called bronchi, which go into each lung. The bronchi then divide further, into smaller tubes called bronchioles. Bronchioles then divide further and finally form alveoli.
Considering all the stuff that is in the lungs, you can
now see that many people are wrong when they think of the lungs as being like
empty bags.
At the alveoli, the key business
of breathing takes place. Small blood vessels (capillaries) surround the
alveoli. These vessels have little oxygen, but lots of carbon dioxide in them,
as the body has used up the valuable oxygen in the running of the body and has
made lots of the waste product that is carbon dioxide. In contrast, the air that
now fills the alveoli has lots of oxygen and little carbon dioxide. This means
that oxygen diffuses into the blood vessels, from the alveoli, while carbon
dioxide diffuses out of the vessels, ready to be breathed out.
now see that many people are wrong when they think of the lungs as being like
empty bags.
At the alveoli, the key business
of breathing takes place. Small blood vessels (capillaries) surround the
alveoli. These vessels have little oxygen, but lots of carbon dioxide in them,
as the body has used up the valuable oxygen in the running of the body and has
made lots of the waste product that is carbon dioxide. In contrast, the air that
now fills the alveoli has lots of oxygen and little carbon dioxide. This means
that oxygen diffuses into the blood vessels, from the alveoli, while carbon
dioxide diffuses out of the vessels, ready to be breathed out.
One cool thing is that animals (including people) breath
in oxygen and breath out carbon dioxide, while plants do the opposite. This is
why perverts have plants by their telephones, to help them make "heavy
breathing" calls (...this last sentence is perhaps not true).
in oxygen and breath out carbon dioxide, while plants do the opposite. This is
why perverts have plants by their telephones, to help them make "heavy
breathing" calls (...this last sentence is perhaps not true).