The Respiratory System and Respiration
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A series of free Science Lessons for 7th Grade and 8th Grade, KS3 and Checkpoint Science in preparation for GCSE and IGCSE Science.
The Respiratory System
The respiratory system’s main functions include:
- transporting air into and out of the lungs
- protecting the body against harmful particles that are inhaled
- the exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide.
Breathing In (Inhalation)
When you breathe in, or inhale, your diaphragm contracts and moves downward. This increases the space in your chest cavity, into which your lungs expand. The intercostal muscles between your ribs also help enlarge the chest cavity. They contract to pull your rib cage both upward and outward when you inhale.
As your lungs expand, air is sucked in through your nose or mouth. The air travels down your windpipe and into your lungs. After passing through your bronchial tubes, the air finally reaches and enters the alveoli (air sacs).
Through the very thin walls of the alveoli, oxygen from the air passes to the surrounding capillaries (blood vessels). A red blood cell protein called hemoglobin helps move oxygen from the air sacs to the blood. At the same time, carbon dioxide moves from the capillaries into the air sacs. The gas has traveled in the bloodstream from the right side of the heart through the pulmonary artery.
Oxygen-rich blood from the lungs is carried through a network of capillaries to the pulmonary vein. This vein delivers the oxygen-rich blood to the left side of the heart. The left side of the heart pumps the blood to the rest of the body. There, the oxygen in the blood moves from blood vessels into surrounding tissues.
Breathing Out (Exhalation)
When you breathe out, or exhale, your diaphragm relaxes and moves upward into the chest cavity. The intercostal muscles between the ribs also relax to reduce the space in the chest cavity.
As the space in the chest cavity gets smaller, air rich in carbon dioxide is forced out of your lungs and windpipe, and then out of your nose or mouth.
Breathing out requires no effort from your body unless you have a lung disease or are doing physical activity. When you're physically active, your abdominal muscles contract and push your diaphragm against your lungs even more than usual. This rapidly pushes air out of your lungs.
Aerobic Respiration
Respiration is a series of reactions in which energy is released from glucose. Aerobic respiration is the form of respiration which uses oxygen. It happens all the time in the cells of animals and plants
Aerobic respiration can be summarised by this equation:
glucose + oxygen → carbon dioxide + water (+ energy)
Energy is shown in brackets because it is not a substance.
Notice that:
Glucose and oxygen are used up
Carbon dioxide and water are produced as waste products
Anaerobic respiration
Not enough oxygen may reach the muscles during exercise. When this happens, they use anaerobic respiration to obtain energy.
Anaerobic respiration involves the incomplete breakdown of glucose. It releases around 5% of the energy released by aerobic respiration, per molecule of glucose. The waste product is lactic acid rather than carbon dioxide and water:
glucose → lactic acid (+ little energy)
More Science Worksheets
Math Worksheets
A series of free Science Lessons for 7th Grade and 8th Grade, KS3 and Checkpoint Science in preparation for GCSE and IGCSE Science.
The Respiratory System
The respiratory system’s main functions include:
- transporting air into and out of the lungs
- protecting the body against harmful particles that are inhaled
- the exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide.
Breathing In (Inhalation)
When you breathe in, or inhale, your diaphragm contracts and moves downward. This increases the space in your chest cavity, into which your lungs expand. The intercostal muscles between your ribs also help enlarge the chest cavity. They contract to pull your rib cage both upward and outward when you inhale.
As your lungs expand, air is sucked in through your nose or mouth. The air travels down your windpipe and into your lungs. After passing through your bronchial tubes, the air finally reaches and enters the alveoli (air sacs).
Through the very thin walls of the alveoli, oxygen from the air passes to the surrounding capillaries (blood vessels). A red blood cell protein called hemoglobin helps move oxygen from the air sacs to the blood. At the same time, carbon dioxide moves from the capillaries into the air sacs. The gas has traveled in the bloodstream from the right side of the heart through the pulmonary artery.
Oxygen-rich blood from the lungs is carried through a network of capillaries to the pulmonary vein. This vein delivers the oxygen-rich blood to the left side of the heart. The left side of the heart pumps the blood to the rest of the body. There, the oxygen in the blood moves from blood vessels into surrounding tissues.
Breathing Out (Exhalation)
When you breathe out, or exhale, your diaphragm relaxes and moves upward into the chest cavity. The intercostal muscles between the ribs also relax to reduce the space in the chest cavity.
As the space in the chest cavity gets smaller, air rich in carbon dioxide is forced out of your lungs and windpipe, and then out of your nose or mouth.
Breathing out requires no effort from your body unless you have a lung disease or are doing physical activity. When you're physically active, your abdominal muscles contract and push your diaphragm against your lungs even more than usual. This rapidly pushes air out of your lungs.
Respiration is a series of reactions in which energy is released from glucose. Aerobic respiration is the form of respiration which uses oxygen. It happens all the time in the cells of animals and plants
Aerobic respiration can be summarised by this equation:
glucose + oxygen → carbon dioxide + water (+ energy)
Energy is shown in brackets because it is not a substance.
Notice that:
Glucose and oxygen are used up
Carbon dioxide and water are produced as waste products
Anaerobic respiration
Not enough oxygen may reach the muscles during exercise. When this happens, they use anaerobic respiration to obtain energy.
Anaerobic respiration involves the incomplete breakdown of glucose. It releases around 5% of the energy released by aerobic respiration, per molecule of glucose. The waste product is lactic acid rather than carbon dioxide and water:
glucose → lactic acid (+ little energy)
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