The Respiratory System

Definition:

The body’s ventilation system

Why do we breathe?

Why do we breathe?

• Every cell in our body needs oxygen. We breathe to get oxygen into our lungs to be transported around our body, and to get rid of waste (carbon dioxide) produced by cells.

• Without getting rid of the waste, our cells would die within a few minutes. This is why people suffocate without oxygen (their cells die and they die!). The carbon dioxide levels in our body rise killing cells because we need to get rid of the carbon dioxide by exhaling

How does the respiratory system

work?

How the respiratory system works

• The respiratory system starts at your nose/mouth when you take a breath. Oxygen goes down the windpipe (trachea). It enters the main bronchi which splits into two bronchi and into your lungs. In the lungs are millions of tiny air sacks which fill up with air when you take a breath. The air sacks, otherwise known as alveoli, have a very thin layer which o2 and co2 can pass through. The o2 travels through small veins called capillaries into the bloodstream. Co2 from the bloodstream comes back through when you exhale.

What happens when the

respiratory system

malfunctions?

Causes of asthma:

• The disease asthma can be inherited from family or can develop it through lifestyle. Cigarette smoke, exercise, cold air, dust or fumes, painkillers and laughing are some of the causes of asthma attacks. Poorer populations seem more immune to the disease because a dirty environment seems to be a good protection against asthma.

Respiratory System Malfunctions:

• There are three main malfunctions of the respiratory system.

• Asthma- narrows the airway by causing allergy enduced spasms and clogging the airway with mucus.

• Bronchitis- a response to being exposed to irritative gases such as cigarette smoke. It reduces airflow.

• Cystic fibrosis- a genetic defect that causes mucus to fill up and block the airways making it difficult to breath.

What happens when the respiratory system malfunctions?

• The three examples in the previous slide show that it is hard to get air into the lungs because the airways are blocked

• This has the consequence of not getting enough oxygen into the body and carbon dioxide out.

Thanks for watching our presentation…we hope you

learned lots

By Melanie, Abby and Jennie