Transcript The Respiratory System

The Respiratory
System
What is the system?
• Your respiratory system is made up of
the organs in your body that help you to
breathe.
• Respiration = Breathing.
• The goal of breathing is to deliver
oxygen to the body and respiratory to
take away carbon dioxide.
Why do you need to breathe?
• All the cells in your body require
oxygen. Without it, they couldn't move,
build, reproduce, and turn food into
energy. In fact, without oxygen, they
and you would die! How do you get
oxygen? From breathing in air which
your blood circulates to all parts of the
body.
Why do we breathe?
•Your body is made up of tiny cells, each of
which has a special job that keeps you alive.
Every cell in your body needs a special gas
called oxygen, that allows the cell to get
energy from the food you eat. Oxygen in the
air is brought into your lungs. That's when
your blood picks it up and brings it to your
cells.
•Another gas, called carbon dioxide is a waste
product of your cells. It is very dangerous if
it builds up in your body. Your blood carries
the carbon dioxide from your cells to your
lungs, to let you breathe out all the bad gas!
more work = more breaths
• When we exercise, our cells are working
harder, and they need more oxygen. They
also produce more carbon dioxide. That's
why you breathe faster when you exercise!
You have probably noticed that when
you're exercising, your heart beats more
quickly. That's so that the blood can carry
oxygen to your cells faster!
• Your heart and lungs work together to
make sure every cell in your body gets
enough oxygen.
•
What do you think happens to the speed of our breathing when we're resting?
What do you think happens to the speed
of our breathing when we're resting?
• When you rest, your cells aren't
working very hard, so they need less
oxygen. They also produce less carbon
dioxide. This means that you don't need
to breathe as often as when you're
moving around. Remember that because
the heart and lungs work as a team,
when your lungs are not working hard,
your heart is not working hard either.
How the process works
• You breathe with the help of your diaphragm and
other muscles in your chest and abdomen. These
muscles literally change the space and pressure inside
your body to accommodate breathing. When your
diaphragm pulls down, it not only leaves more space
for the lungs to expand but also lowers the internal
air pressure. Outside, where the air pressure is
greater, you suck in air in an inhale. The air then
expands your lungs like a pair of balloons. When your
diaphragm relaxes, the cavity inside your body gets
smaller again. Your muscles squeeze your rib cage and
your lungs begin to collapse as the air is pushed up
and out your body in an exhale.
So, it all starts at the nose?
• Yup. About 20 times a minute, you breathe in. When you do, you
inhale air and pass it through your nasal passages where the air
is filtered, heated, moistened and enters the back of the
throat. Interestingly enough, it's the esophagus or foodpipe
which is located at the back of the throat and the windpipe for
air which is located at the front. When we eat, a flap -- the
epiglottis -- flops down to cover the windpipe so that food
doesn't go down the windpipe.
• So -- back to breathing -- the air has a long journey to get to
your lungs. It flows down through the windpipe, past the voice
box or vocal cords, to where the lowermost ribs meet the center
of your chest. There, your windpipe divides into two tubes which
lead to the two lungs which fill most of your ribcage. Inside each
of your sponge-like lungs, tubes, called bronchi, branch into even
smaller tubes much like the branches of a tree. At the end of
these tubes are millions of tiny bubbles or sacs called aleoli.
Spread out flat, all the air sacs in the lungs of an adult would
cover an area about the third of a tennis court.
What do these sacs do?
• They help perform an incredible magic
act. Your air sacs bring new oxygen
from air you've breathed to your
bloodstream. They exchange it for
waste products, like carbon dioxide,
which the cells in your body have made
and can't use.
How does this exchange work?
• With the help of the red blood cells in your
bloodstream. Your red blood cells are like box
cars on train tracks. They show up at the sacs
at just the right time, ready to trade in old
carbon dioxide that your body's cells have
made for some new oxygen you've just
breathed in. In the process, these red blood
cells turn from purple to that beautiful red
color as they start carrying the oxygen to all
the cells in your body.
But what happens to the carbon dioxide?
• It goes through the lungs, back up your
windpipe and out with every exhale. It's
a remarkable feat, this chemical
exchange and breathing in and out. You
don't have to tell your lungs to keep
working. Your brain does it automatically
for you.
Parts of the respiratory system
• Lungs
• Trachea
• Bronchi
• Diaphragm
Lungs
• The lungs are the main organs of the
respiratory system.
• In the lungs oxygen is taken into the
body and carbon dioxide is breathed
out.
• The red blood cells are responsible for
picking up the oxygen in the lungs and
carrying the oxygen to all the body
cells that need it. The red blood cells
drop off the oxygen to the body cells,
then pick up the carbon dioxide which
is a waste gas product produced by our
cells. The red blood cells transport the
carbon dioxide back to the lungs and
we breathe it out when we exhale.
Trachea
• The trachea (TRAY-keeuh} is sometimes called
the windpipe.
• The trachea filters the
air we breathe and
branches into the
bronchi.
Bronchi
• The bronchi (BRAHN-ky) are two air tubes that
branch off of the trachea and carry air directly
into the lungs
Diaphragm
• Breathing starts with a dome-shaped muscle at the
bottom of the lungs called the diaphragm (DY-uhfram).
• When you breathe in, the diaphragm contracts. When
it contracts it flattens out and pulls downward. This
movement enlarges the space that the lungs are in.
This larger space pulls air into the lungs. When you
breathe out, the diaphragm expands reducing the
amount of space for the lungs and forcing air out.
• The diaphragm is the main muscle used in breathing.
Factoids
• Your lungs contain almost 1500 miles of
airways and over 300 million alveoli.
• Every minute you breathe in 13 pints of air.
• Plants are our partners in breathing. We
breathe in air, use the oxygen in it, and
release carbon dioxide. Plants take in carbon
dioxide and release oxygen. Thank goodness!
• People tend to get more colds in the winter
because we're indoors more often and in close
proximity to other people. When people
sneeze, cough and even breathe -- germs go
flying!
http://yucky.kids.discovery.com/flash/body/pg000138.html
Why do we yawn?
• When you are sleepy or drowsy the
lungs do not take enough oxygen from
the air. This causes a shortage of
oxygen in our bodies. The brain senses
this shortage of oxygen and sends a
message that causes you to take a deep
long breath---a YAWN.
Why do we sneeze?
Sneezing is like a cough in the upper
breathing passages. It is the body's way
of removing an irritant from the sensitive
mucous membranes of the nose. Many
things can irritate the mucous membranes.
Dust, pollen, pepper or even a cold blast of
air are just some of the many things that
may cause you to sneeze.
What Causes Hiccups?
• Hiccups are the sudden movements of
the diaphragm. It is involuntary --- you
have no control over hiccups, as you well
know. There are many causes of hiccups.
The diaphragm may get irritated, you
may have eaten to fast, or maybe some
substance in the blood could even have
brought on the hiccups.
http://www.lung.ca/children/grades4_6/respiratory/index.html