The Lung And Respiratory System

Lungs and Respiratory System

The lungs help us breathe and we don't even have to think about it!! The lungs are the fourth largest organ in our body behind the Skin, Liver and the Brain. The lung on the left side of your body is smaller than your right for space for your Heart. Your lungs are in your chest. Lungs are protected by the rib cage which are made up of 12 sets of ribs. The diaphragm is a dome-shaped muscle under the lungs that helps us inhale and exhale. You can't see your lungs but you can easily feel them in action. Put your hand on your chest and as you breathe in you will feel your chest expand and as you breathe out your chest will shrink. From the outside the lungs are pink and squishy but on the inside they are really fascinating. At the bottom of the Trachea (say: Tray-kee-uh), or windpipe the are two stems. These stems are called Bronchi (say: Brong-kye) and one goes left to the left lung and the other goes to the right lung. Each main stem Bronchus (say: Brong-kuss) - the name for just one of the Bronchi - then branches off into tubes, or Bronchi, that get smaller and even smaller still, like branches on a big tree. The tiniest tubes are called Bronchioles (say: Brong-kee-oles), and there are about 30,000 of them in each lung. At the end of each bronchiole is a special area that leads into clumps called Alveoli (say: Alo-vee-oh-lie). There are about 600 million Alveoli in your lungs. Each Alveolus (say: Al -vee -oh -luss) - what we call just one of the Alveoli - has a mesh-like covering of very small blood vessels called Capillaries (say: Cap-ill-er-ees). These capillaries are so tiny that the cells in your blood need to line up single file just to march through them. Your lungs help you do a lot of things. They allow you to breathe, talk to your friend, shout at a game, sing, laugh, cry, and more! And speaking of a game, your lungs even work with your brain to help you inhale and exhale a larger amount of air at a more rapid rate when you're running a mile - all without you even thinking about it once.