The Lungs Flashcards
What part of the body are the lungs in?
The thorax
What is the thorax in general terms and what separates it from other parts of the body?
It is the top part of the body and the diaphragm separates it from the lower half.
Describe the structure of the lungs and how they are protected.
They are like big, pink sponges and are protected by the ribcage. They are surrounded by the pleural membranes.
Name structures that the air travels through before defusing into the blood stream.
Trachea, bronchi (plural is bronchus), bronchioles, alveoli.
At which structure does the air get split into each lung?
The bronchus.
Describe the structure of alveoli.
Little air sacs surrounded by a network of blood capillaries.
Describe the concentration gradient of gases (carbon dioxide and oxygen) in the blood and how it affects diffusion.
The alveoli has a higher concentration of oxygen than the blood stream and a lower concentration of carbon dioxide than the blood stream. This means that carbon dioxide diffuses from the blood capillaries into the alveoli and the oxygen vice versa.
How does oxygen get into our body cells and how does carbon dioxide get into our red blood cells?
Oxygen- defuses through the red blood cell membrane and into the body cells.
Carbon dioxide- defuses through the body cell membrane and into the red blood cell.
What is the formula to calculate breaths per minute?
Breaths per minute = number of breaths / number of minutes
