Ch 29 Key Terms

Question 1

arterial gas embolism (AGE)

Answer 1

a condition that occurs immediately after rapid ascent in which air bubbles enter the bloodstream from a ruptured alveolus and lodge in an artery.

Question 2

barotrauma

Answer 2

trauma that is caused by differences in pressure between the body and the environment.

Question 3

decompression sickness

Answer 3

formation of nitrogen bubbles in tissues from a too-rapid ascent.

Question 4

drowning

Answer 4

suffocation by submersion in water.

Question 5

laryngospasm

Answer 5

spasm of the vocal cords that prevents air movement through the respiratory tract.

Question 6

mammalian diving reflex

Answer 6

a reflexive response to diving in many mammals that is characterized by physiological changes that decrease oxygen consumption (including slowed heart rate and decreased blood flow to the abdominal organs and muscles) until breathing resumes.

Question 7

near-drowning

Answer 7

survival for at least 24 hours after being suffocated by submersion in water.

Question 8

partial pressure

Answer 8

the pressure of a single gas within a mixture of gases; the partial pressure of each gas in a mixture of gases is equal to the pressure that gas would exert if it occupied the same volume alone at the same temperature.

Question 9

tonicity

Answer 9

a property of solutions that relates to the concentration of solutes (such as salt) it contains, and how the water in a solution moves across a cell membrane; water in a solution crosses a cell membrane from the side that has the lower tonicity (a hypotonic solution) to the side that has the higher tonicity (a hypertonic solution); pure water is hypotonic to the solution within cells because that solution contains salts.