Overview of the Anatomy of the Respiratory System (Part 1)

Question 1

What are the most superficial parts of the respiratory system?

Answer 1

The nose and the mouth

Question 2

Why is it much more comfortable to breath through the nose rather than the mouth?

Answer 2

The nose is better at moistening and warming the air that we breath in. This is done by the cilia and the mucus which trap particles.

Question 3

How does surface area to volume ratio vary in the mouth and nose?

Answer 3

The surface area to volume ratio is larger in the nose than it is in the mouth which is very good for moistening and warming the air that we breathe in.

Question 4

What must happen to the air that we breathe in before it reaches the deepest part of the lungs?

Answer 4

It has to be fully saturated with water vapour because the air needs to be in solution in order to diffuse from the lungs to the blood

Question 5

Where does the moistening process of air begin?

Answer 5

It begins in the nose

Question 6

Does the nose contain ciliated epithelium?

Answer 6

Yes

Question 7

Where does the air that passes through the nose or mouth go?

Answer 7

Pharynx (throat)

Question 8

What is the pharynx?

Answer 8

It is a tube that connects the back of the nose and the back of the mouth and joins with the larynx, or it splits and forms the oesophagus which goes to the stomach.

Question 9

What part of the respiratory system is also joined to the digestive system?

Answer 9

The Pharynx.

Question 10

What is present at the point where the pharynx becomes the larynx?

Answer 10

The epiglottis.

Question 11

What is the epiglottis?

Answer 11

It is a flap of cartilaginous tissue that is a gate to the lungs and prevents food from entering it when you swallow It is mostly open, closes on swallowing.

Question 12

What is the normal position of the epiglottis?

Answer 12

It is normally open so that there is free passage of air between the upper respiratory tract and the lower respiratory tract

Question 13

What does the epiglottis sit on?

Answer 13

The Larnyx

Question 14

What does the larynx sit on?

Answer 14

The larynx sits on the trachea.

Question 15

What is the biggest airway?

Answer 15

The biggest airway is the trachea which starts at the larynx and ends at the sternal angle.

Question 16

What is present at the bottom of the trachea angle?

Answer 16

The splitting of the trachea to form two primary bronchi.

Question 17

How many primary bronchi are there and what are they named as?

Answer 17

There are two and they are the left and right bronchi.

Question 18

How many more times do the primary bronchi divide?

Answer 18

There is about 24 generations of branching between the trachea and the tiny air sacs called alveoli.

Question 19

What forms the lung tissue?

Answer 19

It is the dense network of continually branching airways that are getting smaller and smaller.

Question 20

What do the smaller branches of airway end in?

Answer 20

They end in blind ending air sacs called alveoli.

Question 21

What are the main organs of the respiratory system?

Answer 21

The lungs.

Question 22

What is the texture of the lungs?

Answer 22

They are soft and spongy because they are made mainly of air sacs known as alveoli.

Question 23

What happens in the alveoli?

Answer 23

Gas Exchange

Question 24

What is the trachea made up of?

Answer 24

Stiff rings of cartilage that support and protect it.

Question 24

What is the function of the trachea?

Answer 24

Transports oxygen from the pharynx to the lungs.

Question 25

What two sections can you split the respiratory system into?

Answer 25

The upper and lower respiratory tract.

Question 26

What does the upper respiratory tract consist of?

Answer 26

Mouth, nasal cavity, tongue, larynx, pharynx, oesophagus and vocal cords.

Question 27

What part of the upper respiratory tract isn’t shared with digestive system?

Answer 27

The larynx.

Question 28

What muscle is really important in allowing you to get air into your lungs?

Answer 28

The diaphragm

Question 29

How many lobes are in the right lung?

Answer 29

3

Question 30

How many lobes are in the left lung?

Answer 30

2

Question 31

Why does the left lung only have 2 lobes?

Answer 31

It has 2 lobes because the heart takes up a lot of the space from the left lung, and so therefore it is smaller.

Question 32

What splits the lung into lobes?

Answer 32

Fissures
Horizontal lobe splits right lung to form superior and middle lobes
Oblique lobe splits the right lung to form middle lobes and inferior lobes and it splits the left lung to form superior and inferior lobes.

Question 33

What does blackness of lungs represent?

Answer 33

It represents the fact that someone might be a smoker or they might have lived in a heavily polluted area for most of their life.

Question 34

What happens to your lungs when you die?

Answer 34

They deflate and so they separate from the chest wall.

Question 35

What does each primary bronchus branch off into?

Answer 35

It branches off into a two secondary bronchi on the left and three secondary bronchi on the right and one secondary bronchi travels to each lobe of the lung.

Question 36

What does each secondary bronchus branch off into?

Answer 36

it branches of into a tertiary bronchus and each tertiary bronchus travels to a bronchial segment (which is what each lung lobe is further split into)

Question 37

What are cartilaginous rings?

Answer 37

They are C shaped rings, cartilaginous rings that help maintain the patency of the airways giving them some form of rigidity that stops them collapsing.

Question 38

What is the patency of the airways?

Answer 38

The ability of the airways to stay open and air can flow freely along them.

Question 39

What happens to the cartilaginous rings below the bronchi and how is their patency maintained?

Answer 39

They start to lose their cartilaginous rings and instead the patency is maintained by the physical forces that act on the lungs.

Question 40

What are airways known as once they lose their cartilaginous rings?

Answer 40

They are known as bronchioles.

Question 41

What are the terminal parts of the respiratory tree?

Answer 41

The alveoli

Question 42

Why does gas exchange only occur in the alveoli?

Answer 42

It only occurs in the alveoli because airways higher up in the have walls that are too thick for gas exchange to occur.

Question 43

What is dead space and approximately how much air do we have sitting in it?

Answer 43

It’s some air that can be found in the airways but this air doesn’t participate in gas exchange and we have about 150ml of dead space in our airways.

Question 44

What are the main differences left and right bronchi?

Answer 44

The right bronchi is more wide and is on a more vertical trajectory.

Question 45

Which bronchi are foreign bodies mostly lodged into?

Answer 45

They are mostly lodged into the right bronchi due to the more vertical trajectory.

Question 46

What is the diameter of the trachea?

Answer 46

15 to 20 mm

Question 47

What is the diameter of the primary bronchi?

Answer 47

10 to 15 mm

Question 48

Where does the greatest amount of resistance occur in our airways?

Answer 48

It occurs in our larger airways, this is because there are only few of the larger airways and so more air has to go through that one airway whereas the smaller airways there are tens of millions of them and so the air is divided between them. The total area available for airflow in the smaller bronchioles is much larger than in the larger airways.

Question 49

Where does dead space occur?

Answer 49

It occurs in the conducting zone.