Christian Brooke

LO4-Respiratory 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 to take
away carbon dioxide.
Christian Brooke

In this learning objective I will be show that I know the structure and function of the
respiratory system, within this I will talk about all area’s that make up the respiratory system.

Oxygen is taken into the body through the airways, absorbed into the lungs, then transported
through the body in the blood. The lungs also give out carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.
This system includes passages that connect the nose and mouth to the lungs.

There are many diseases that can harm and even destroy the respiratory system. Asthma is an
increasingly common disease that causes coughing and makes it hard to breathe. Lung cancer
is a major cause of death particularly among smokers. Tuberculosis is a disease caused by
Christian Brooke

bacteria that can destroy the lungs. TB is very contagious and affects cats and other animals
in addition to humans. Most people experience minor respiratory problems in the form of a
sore throat, cough, or bronchitis from an illness.

Nasal Cavity
The respiratory system is made up of body parts that are in charge of your breathing. It
includes your nose and nasal cavity, this is where the respiration process start. As you inhale
air though your nose, small specks of dirt are trapped by many tiny hairs in your nose. This
cleans the air which stop the dirt from going further in your body. The inside surface in your
nose traps even smaller pieces of dirt. The nasal cavity, the air passage behind the nose, plays
an important role in breathing. The nasal cavity is divided into a right and left passageway.
The tissue that covers the wall of your nasal cavity contains many blood vessels. Heat from
the blood in the vessels helps warm the air as you breathe. Moisture is added to the air you
breathe by special cells in the walls of the nasal cavity

The air is warmed and moistened before it

reaches your lungs.

Epiglottis

This is a small flap that is situated behind the tongue and in front of the larynx. The epiglottis
is usually upright at rest allowing air to pass into the larynx and lungs. When a person
swallows, the epiglottis folds backward to cover the entrance of the larynx so that foods and
Christian Brooke

liquids don’t not enter the windpipe and lungs. After swallowing the epiglottis returns to its
original upright position.

Pharynx

“This part of the respiratory system is funnel shaped and its job is to connect the nasal cavity
to the larnx” BTEC Sport Adams et Al. The larynx is another word for the throat as this is
what it is, It serves as a passageway for food traveling from the oral cavity to the “esophagus”
and for air traveling from the nasal cavity to the larynx. The pharynx has three divisions:

1) the nasopharynx,

2) the oropharynx,

3) the laryngopharynx.

Larynx

This is your voice box, which makes us talk. It has rigid walls which are made of muscle and
cartilage . They contain vocal cords which enable us to speak. It connects the Pharynx to the
Trachea. The larynx is often divided into three sections: sublarynx, larynx, and supralarynx.
Christian Brooke

“It is formed by nine cartilages – the epiglottis, thyroid, cricoid, arytenoid (two), corniculate
(two), and cuneiform (two) – that are connected to each other by muscles and ligaments and
lined with mucous membrane. Movement of these cartilages alters the tension of the vocal
folds, which changes the pitch of the sound emitted by the vocal folds when they
vibrate.”www.daviddarling.info

Trachea

The trachea is also known as your windpipe, it is located below the voice box (larynx) the
diagram above shows the location.

It is around 15cm long and 3cm in diameter; it contains cartilage that helps it prevent
collapsing and is known to be very flexible to withstand pressure. The trachea moves as we
endure in respiration.

The function of the trachea is to maintain and protect the air way. It's lined with mucus
glands which is where the air passes through it and the glands will catch the small particles
before they enter. Trachea is supplied by nerves that are part of the cough reflex that helps get
rid of irritation such as particles of food and dust.
Christian Brooke

Bronchus and Bronchioles

The Bronchus is an organ from the respiratory system. It acts as a calibre for the airway by
conducting air in to the lungs, through breathing. The bronchus is formed from the Trachea
which is the wind pipe. The trachea divides into two bronchi, one at the left and one at the
right. These bronchi then keep on dividing until they form alveolar ducts which are situated at
the end of the bronchus. At the end of each alveolar duct an alveolar sac is attached. Alveolus
is the place where exchange of gas takes place.

“The bronchus is what carries the air into the lungs, the right bronchus is shorter but wider
than the left and is more commonly where objects get lodged” As Level PE Jones et al. Once
the air is inside the lungs, each bronchus divides into the lobar bronchi three on the left and

two on the right.

Tertiary bronchi continue to divide and become bronchioles, very narrow tubes, less than 1
millimeter in diameter. There is no cartilage within the bronchioles and they lead to alveolar
sacs. “Bronchioles end in clusters of thin walled air sacs which are alveoli” Adams et Al -
Btec Sport
Christian Brooke

The Lungs

The lungs are a pair of organs located in the chest cavity that perform respiration. These are
about 12 inches long. The lungs are a protective membrane. The area between the two lungs
is called the mediastinum, which contains the heart, trachea, esophagus and blood vessels.
The lung is protected by the ribcage.

“We all have two lungs, which occupy the

thoracic cavity and extend down the
diaphragm.” Adams et al

The function of the lungs is to maintain the

body's respiration, which means that the
lungs bring oxygen to the bloodstream via
the alveoli which are the tiny sacs in the
lungs. When oxygen enters the blood,
hemoglobin picks it up and transports it
throughout the body. The lungs also remove
carbon dioxide from the bloodstream,
disposing of the waste by product of the
body. When the lungs do not work properly, it means that oxygen is not getting to the body
and that they need to work harder to function. Problems with the lungs, such as pneumonia,
lung disease, asthma or other problems put more stress on bodily functions. The lungs are one
of the most vital body organs involved in the respiration system.

Pleural Membrane and Thoracic Cavity

These two parts of the respiratory system are small and not much detail is shown but are still
vital in respiration.
Christian Brooke

“ Our lungs are surrounded by membrane known as Pleura, these contain a cavity filled with
fluid that lubricates the surfaces therefore allowing the lungs to expand and contract which
helps prevent friction” www.e-how.co.uk

The pleural membrane also helps to keep the two lungs away from each other and they are air
tight therefore if one lung is punctured and collapses due to an accident, the other pleural
cavity will still be air tight, and the other lung will work normally.

The thoracic cavity is split into 3 divisions these are

 Right pleural cavity

 Left pleural cavity
 Mediastinum

 Parietal layer of pleura lines the entire thoracic cavity . Visceral pleura lies against the
parietal pleura.

Alveoli

At the end of each alveolar duct there are a number of sac-like structures called alveoli, it is
within these structures that surfactant is produced. The alveoli are grouped together like a lot
of interlinked caves, rather than existing as separate individual sacs.

Gas exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide takes place in the alveoli. Oxygen from the
inhaled air diffuses through the walls of the alveoli and adjacent capillaries into the red blood
cells. The oxygen is then carried by the blood to the body tissues. Carbon dioxide produced
by the body’s metabolism returns to the lung via the blood. It then diffuses across the
capillary and alveolar walls into the air to be removed from the body with expiration. “The
alveoli have a structure specialised for efficient gaseous exchange” www.brianmac.com
Christian Brooke

Bibliography

www.brianmac.com

www.e-how.co.uk

BTEC Sport Level 3 Adams et Al

AS Level PE Jones H et al
Christian Brooke