PRACTICAL Name:

23 A model for breathing movements

You need:
■ large plastic syringe ■ cork/rubber bung ■ balloon

The action of the diaphragm

2 Assemble the apparatus: bung
1 Cut the end with hole
off a large
plastic syringe 3 Balloon stretched over rubber
bung

Side of syringe barrel

Syringe plunger

Air Out

Slowly lower ‘Lungs’ Raise the

In ‘Lungs’ Air
the inflate ‘diaphragm’
‘diaphragm’ collapse

Questions
a What does the hole in the rubber bung represent?
b What does the balloon represent?
c What does the end of the plunger represent?
d The rigid side walls of the syringe barrel represent the wall of the
thorax. What makes up the wall of the thorax in a living animal?

Extension
In the body of a mammal certain structures pass through the
diaphragm. Name any three of them, and explain why they must
pass through the diaphragm.

© OUP: this may be reproduced for class use solely for the purchaser’s institute