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What Are the Lungs and Respiratory System?

The lungs and respiratory system allow us to breathe. They:

This exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide is called respiration.

How Do the Lungs and Respiratory System Work?

The cells in our bodies need oxygen to stay alive. Carbon dioxide is made in our bodies as cells do their jobs.

The lungs and respiratory system allow oxygen in the air to be taken into the body, while also letting the body get rid of carbon dioxide in the air breathed out.

When you breathe in, the diaphragm moves downward toward the abdomen, and the rib muscles pull the ribs upward and outward. This makes the chest cavity bigger and pulls air through the nose or mouth into the lungs.

In exhalation, the diaphragm moves upward and the chest wall muscles relax, causing the chest cavity to get smaller and push air out of respiratory system through the nose or mouth.

Every few seconds, with each inhalation, air fills a large portion of the millions of alveoli. In a process called diffusion, oxygen moves from the alveoli to the blood through the capillaries (tiny blood vessels) lining the alveolar walls. Once in the bloodstream, oxygen gets picked up by the hemoglobin in red blood cells. This oxygen-rich blood then flows back to the heart, which pumps it through the arteries to oxygen-hungry tissues throughout the body.

In the tiny capillaries of the body tissues, oxygen is freed from the hemoglobin and moves into the cells. Carbon dioxide, made by the cells as they do their work, moves out of the cells into the capillaries, where most of it dissolves in the plasma of the blood. Blood rich in carbon dioxide then returns to the heart via the veins. From the heart, this blood is pumped to the lungs, where carbon dioxide passes into the alveoli to be exhaled.

What Are the Parts of the Respiratory System?

The respiratory system includes:

How Does the Respiratory System Work?

Air enters the respiratory system through the nose or the mouth. If it goes in the nostrils (also called nares), the air is warmed and humidified. Tiny hairs called cilia (say: SIL-ee-uh) protect the nasal passageways and other parts of the respiratory tract, filtering out dust and other particles that enter the nose through the breathed air.

What's the Pharynx?

The two openings of the airway (the nasal cavity and the mouth) meet at the pharynx ( throat) at the back of the nose and mouth. The pharynx (say: FAR-inks) is part of the digestive system as well as the respiratory system because it carries both food and air.

What's the Esophagus? What's the Epiglottis?

At the bottom of the pharynx, this pathway divides in two:

one for food - the esophagus (say: ih-SAH-fuh-gus), which leads to the stomach

one for air - the epiglottis. The epiglottis (say: eh-pih-GLAH-tus), is a small flap of tissue that covers the air-only passage when we swallow, keeping food and liquid from going into the lungs.

What's the Larynx? What Are the Vocal Cords?

The larynx (voice box) is the top part of epiglottis (the air-only pipe). This short tube contains a pair of vocal cords, which vibrate to make sounds.

What's the Trachea?

The trachea (windpipe) is the continuation of the airway below the larynx. The walls of the trachea (say: TRAY-kee-uh) are strengthened by stiff rings of The trachea, or windpipe, is the continuation of the airway below the larynx.

The walls of the trachea are strengthened by stiff rings of cartilage to keep it open. The trachea is also lined with cilia, which sweep fluids and foreign particles out of the airway so that they stay out of the lungs.

What Are Bronchi? And What Are Bronchioles?

At its bottom end, the trachea divides into left and right air tubes called bronchi (pronounced: BRAHN-kye), which connect to the lungs. Within the lungs, the bronchi branch into smaller bronchi and even smaller tubes called bronchioles (say: BRAHN-kee-olz).

What Are Alveoli?

Bronchioles end in tiny air sacs called alveoli (say: al-VEE-uh-lie), where the exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide actually takes place. Each person has hundreds of millions of alveoli in their lungs. This network of alveoli, bronchioles, and bronchi is known as the bronchial tree.

What's the Pleura?

The lungs also contain elastic tissues that let them inflate and deflate without losing shape. They're covered by a thin lining called the pleura (say: PLUR-uh).

What's the Thorax?

The chest cavity, or thorax (say: THOR-aks), is the airtight box that houses the bronchial tree, lungs, heart, and other structures.

What's the Diaphragm?

The top and sides of the thorax are formed by the ribs and attached muscles, and the bottom is formed by a large muscle called the diaphragm (say: DYE-uh-fram). The chest walls form a protective cage around the lungs and other contents of the chest cavity.

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Your Lungs & Respiratory System (for Kids) - Nemours KidsHealth

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What’s something kids are doing all day, every day? Breathing! Your lungs are large and in charge of breathing, so read all about them in this article.

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lungs; breathe; breath; breathing; oxygen; air; inhale; exhale;

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Kids' Health - Topics - Lungs - your lungs

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Check out our range of interesting human body facts for kids and learn some fun trivia about how the human body works.

Lung Facts

Check out these fun lung facts for kids. Learn more about the amazing organs that allow us to breathe in the oxygen we need to live as well as breathe out the waste product carbon dioxide.

The primary functions of your lungs are to transport oxygen from the air you breathe into your bloodstream while taking away carbon dioxide, which is released into the air when you breathe out.

Most vertebrate animals (animals with spines) have two lungs.

Your left and right lungs aren't exactly the same. The lung on the left side of your body is divided into two lobes while the lung on your right side is divided into three. The left lung is also slightly smaller, allowing room for your heart.

Can you live without one lung? Yes you can, it limits your physical ability but doesn't stop you from living a relatively normal life. Many people around the world live with just one lung.

People who have a large lung capacity can send oxygen around their body faster. You can increase you lung capacity with regular exercise.

When resting, the average adult breathes around 12 to 20 times a minute.

An average person breathes in around 11,000 litres of air every day.

The study of lung diseases is known as pulmonology.

As well as other parts of your body and your general health, smoking is bad for your lungs. Smoking can cause lung cancer among other lung affecting diseases.

Asthma is a common disease that affects the lungs. Asthma attacks happen when your airways narrow after being irritated. The narrow airways make it hard for you to breathe in air.

Pneumonia is a dangerous disease that makes it harder for your lungs to absorb oxygen from the air you breathe.

Other lung diseases include emphysema, tuberculosis and bronchitis.

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Fun Lung Facts for Kids - Interesting Facts about Lungs

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Check out our range of interesting human body facts for kids and learn some fun trivia about how the human body works. Lung Facts Check out these fun lung facts for kids. Learn more about the amazing organs that allow us to breathe in the oxygen we need to live as well as breathe out the waste product carbon dioxide.

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DK Find Out! | Fun Facts for Kids on Animals, Earth, History and more!

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Visit DK Find Out! to learn about dinosaurs, space, animals, nature & more. Fun learning activities for kids with videos, quizzes & galleries at DKFindOut.com

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We pretty much don't take any notice of our lungs. We breathe in and out every day and just assume that they will work. The only time that we really notice them is when we get a cold or the flu and it becomes difficult to breathe or when we exercise a lot and start to breathe heavier.

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What Do Lungs Do?

Take a deep breath. Wasn't that amazing!? Well, a deep breath may not seem that amazing, but by the end of this lesson, you'll have a deeper appreciation for this simple action.

Your lungs are the major organs that help with breathing. When you breathe in, your lungs fill with air. When we say 'air,' we actually mean a mixture of many types of gases: nitrogen, oxygen, and carbon dioxide, to name a few.

Gas Exchange

One of the major jobs of the lungs is to filter the air and pull out the oxygen. The oxygen is then passed to your blood. Your blood delivers the oxygen to all the tissues in your body, which use the oxygen to perform important functions. Your tissues then dump waste gases back into the blood. The blood carries the waste gases back to the lungs, which then help to expel these waste gases, mainly carbon dioxide. This ongoing process is known as gas exchange.

Gas exchange may seem like a very fancy term, but it's really simple if you break it down. 'Exchange' means to switch something. For example, say your parent buys you pants that are too small, so you go to the store and exchange the small pants for larger pants you can actually use. That's like what's happening here, but instead of pants, gases are being exchanged. Your lungs are exchanging carbon dioxide for oxygen it can use with every breath. So cool, right!? That deep breath you took is looking more impressive.

How Does Air Get to the Lungs?

Gas exchange is incredibly exciting, but let's back up a bit and examine how the air reaches your lungs in the first place. This may seem obvious: It starts when you breathe in through your nose or mouth. The air is then warmed and moisturized as it travels down your windpipe, or trachea.

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the lungs lesson for kids: definition & facts | study.com

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The Lungs Lesson for Kids: Definition & Facts | Study.com

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Take a deep breath. Wasn't that amazing!? Well, a deep breath may not seem that amazing, but by the end of this lesson, you'll have a deeper appreciation for this simple action. Your lungs are the major organs that help with breathing. When you breathe in, your lungs fill with air.

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Can you live without your lungs?

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What is the main job of your lungs?

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What system does your lungs belong to?

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We breathe in Oxygen (O2) and breathe out...?

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When you inhale, what do your lungs do?

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Another name for your trachea is your...?

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When you exhale, what do your lungs do?

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What do the little hairs in your nose do?