Human Anatomy: Our lungs (Experiment- What is your lung volume?)
Our lungs are wonderful organs. They keep us breathing and alive in return. They expand and contract, supplying life-sustaining oxygen to your body and removing from it. This waste product is called carbon dioxide.
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How does breathing work?
Breathing begins at our nose and mouth. When you inhale, the air goes through your nose or your mouth. It travels back to your throat and into your windpipe (trachea). The job of the trachea is to divide the air into the two air passages called the bronchial tubes.
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If your lungs perform at their optimal best the airways need to be open during inhalation and exhalation, free from inflammation and excess/abnormal amounts of mucus.
The bronchial tubes pass through the lungs, these tubes then divide into smaller air passages. These air passages are called bronchioles. Each bronchioles end in tiny balloon-like air sacs called alveoli. The wonderful thing about our body is that we have over 300 million alveoli.
Each alveoli is surrounded by a mesh of tiny blood vessels called capillaries. The oxygen from the inhaled air passes through the alveoli walls and into the blood.
After the oxygen has been absorbed the blood leaves the lungs and is carried to the heart. The heart pumps the blood through the body to provide oxygen to the cells of your tissues and organs.
While the cells use the oxygen carbon dioxide is produced and absorbed into the blood. The carbon dioxide is then transferred to the lungs where it is removed from our bodies when we exhale.
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Science Experiment: What is your lung volume?
You will need the following
- Clean plastic tubing
- A large plastic bottle
- Water
- Kitchen sink or large water basin
Instructions
- Use a clean plastic tube.
- Work over your sink or a water basin.
- Fill the bottle to the top with water.
- Put your hand over the top of the bottle to stop water escaping when you turn it upside down.
- Turn the bottle upside down.
- Place the top of the bottle under the water in the sink before removing your hand.
- Push one end of the plastic tube into the bottle.
- Take a big breath in.
- Breathe out as much air as you can through the tube.
- Measure the volume of air your lungs had in them.
- Make sure you clean up the area to finish.
REMEMBER:
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