Lung, 

either of a pair of elastic, spongy organs used in breathing and

respiration. Lungs are present in all mammals, birds, and reptiles. Most
amphibians and a few species of fish also have lungs.
In humans the lungs occupy a large portion of the chest cavity from the
collarbone down to the diaphragm, a dome-shaped sheet of muscle that
walls off the chest cavity from the abdominal cavity. At birth the lungs are
pink, but as a person ages, they become gray and mottled from tiny particles
breathed in with the air. Generally, people who live in cities and industrial
areas have darker lungs than those who live in the country.
 In humans the lungs occupy a large portion of the chest cavity from the collarbone
down to the diaphragm. The right lung is divided into three sections, or lobes. The
left lung, with a cleft to accommodate the heart, has only two lobes. The two
branches of the trachea, called bronchi, subdivide within the lobes into smaller and
smaller air vessels known as bronchioles. Bronchioles terminate in alveoli, tiny air
sacs surrounded by capillaries. When the alveoli inflate with inhaled air, oxygen
diffuses into the blood in the capillaries to be pumped by the heart to the tissues of
the body. At the same time carbon dioxide diffuses out of the blood into the lungs,
where it is exhaled.
 Structure Of The Lungs
 Air travels to the lungs through a series of air tubes and passages. It enters the body through the nostrils or the
mouth, passing down the throat to the larynx, or voice box, and then to the trachea, or windpipe. In the chest
cavity the trachea divides into two branches, called the right and left bronchi or bronchial tubes, that enter the
lungs.
 In the adult human, each lung is 25 to 30 cm (10 to 12 in) long and roughly conical. The left lung is divided
into two sections, or lobes: the superior and the inferior. The right lung is somewhat larger than the left lung
and is divided into three lobes: the superior, middle, and inferior. The two lungs are separated by a structure
called the mediastinum, which contains the heart, trachea, esophagus, and blood vessels. Both right and left
lungs are covered by an external membrane called the pleura. The outer layer of the pleura forms the lining of
the chest cavity.
 The branches of the bronchi eventually narrow down to tubes of less than 1.02 mm (less than 0.04 in) in
diameter. These tubes, called bronchioles, divide into even narrower tubes, called alveolar ducts. Each
alveolar duct ends in a grapelike cluster of thin-walled sacs, called alveoli (a single sac is called an alveolus).
From 300 million to 400 million alveoli are contained in each lung. The air sacs of both lungs have a total
surface area of about 93 sq m (about 1000 sq ft), nearly 50 times the total surface area of the skin.
 In addition to the network of air tubes, the lungs also contain a vast network of blood vessels. Each alveolus is
surrounded by many tiny capillaries, which receive blood from arteries and empty into veins. The arteries join
to form the pulmonary arteries, and the veins join to form the pulmonary veins. These large blood vessels
connect the lungs with the heart.
Alveoli
A scanning electron micrograph reveals the
tiny sacs known as alveoli within a section
of human lung tissue. Human beings have a
thin layer of about 700 million alveoli
within their lungs. This layer is crucial in
the process called respiration, exchanging
oxygen and carbon dioxide with the
surrounding blood capillaries.
 Breathing
 Although the words breathing and respiration are sometimes used interchangeably,
they have distinct meanings. Breathing is the process of moving oxygen-rich air into
and out of the lungs. Respiration refers to all of the processes involved in getting
oxygen to tissues, including breathing, diffusion of oxygen from the lungs to the
blood, transport by the blood, and diffusion from the blood to tissues. Respiration is
essential for aerobic respiration, the process within cells in which nutrients and
oxygen are used to build the energy molecule adenosine triphosphate (ATP). In
aerobic respiration, body cells use oxygen to metabolize glucose, forming carbon
dioxide as a waste product that is exhaled.
 Because body cells are constantly using up oxygen and producing carbon dioxide,
the lungs work continuously. An adult normally breathes from 14 to 20 times per
minute, but vigorous exercise can raise the rate to 80 breaths per minute. A child’s
rate of breathing at rest is faster than an adult’s at rest, and a newborn baby has a
rate of about 40 breaths per minute. In general, smaller animals have faster
breathing rates than larger animals. A rat, for example, breathes about 60 times per
minute, while a horse breathes only about 12 times per minute.
 The process of breathing is generally divided into two phases, inspiration and expiration. In inspiration, air
is moved into the lungs. In expiration, air is forced out of the lungs. The lungs themselves have no muscle
tissue. Their movements are controlled by the rib cage and the diaphragm. During inspiration the muscles
around the rib cage contract, lifting the ribs upward and outward, and lowering the dome of the diaphragm
until it forms a nearly flat sheet. As a result of these changes, the chest cavity expands. Because the lungs
are attached to the chest cavity, they also expand. With the enlargement of the lungs, air pressure inside the
lungs falls below the pressure of the air outside the body, creating a partial vacuum, and air from outside the
body rushes into the lungs.
 The amount of air normally taken into the lungs in a single breath during quiet breathing is called the tidal
volume. In adults the tidal volume is equal to about 0.5 liters (about 1 pt). The lungs can hold about ten
times this volume if they are filled to capacity. This maximum amount, called the vital capacity, is generally
about 4.8 liters (about 1.3 gal) in an adult male, but varies from one individual to the next. Athletes, for
example, can have a vital capacity of as much as 5.7 liters ( 1.5 gal). The vital capacity is reached only
during strenuous exercise.
 In expiration the muscles that lift the rib cage and lower the diaphragm relax. As a result, the rib cage and
the diaphragm return to their original positions, and the lungs contract with them. With each contraction of
the lungs the air inside them is forced out.
 A person can alter the rate of breathing and can even stop breathing for a short time. But it is impossible to
voluntarily stop breathing permanently because breathing, like the heartbeat, is an involuntary activity
controlled by nerve centers in the brain stem, the lower part of the brain. These centers are connected with
the muscles of the rib cage and diaphragm, and they increase or decrease the rate of breathing according to
the needs of the body.
Breathing in Humans
As the diaphragm contracts and moves downward, the
pectoralis minor and intercostal muscles pull the rib cage
outward. The chest cavity expands, and air rushes into the
lungs through the trachea to fill the resulting vacuum. When
the diaphragm relaxes to its normal, upwardly curving position,
the lungs contract, and air is forced out.
 Diseases Of The Lungs
The lungs are subject to a number of disorders, with symptoms that
may include difficulty in breathing, chest pain, coughing, and
wheezing. Lung cancer, most commonly caused by smoking tobacco,
is the deadliest lung disease, and each year it kills more Americans
than any other kind of cancer. Smoking tobacco may also lead to
emphysema, which is caused by wholesale destruction of alveoli.
Other lung disorders include pneumonia, or inflammation of the
lungs, which is usually caused by viruses or bacteria; pneumothorax,
or collapse of the lung; pulmonary edema, or fluid in the lung; and
pleural effusion, or fluid on the pleura. Pulmonary embolism occurs
when a blood clot or other foreign substance lodges in the lungs and
blocks the major pulmonary arteries.
Smoker's Lung Tissue
The lungs are made up of approximately 350 million tiny sacs
called alveoli, where carbon dioxide from the body is
exchanged for oxygen from the air. Various diseases that affect
the lungs either destroy the alveoli directly, as does
emphysema, or impair the alveoli’s ability to exchange gases.
This picture shows the effects of emphysema (caused by
smoking) on lung tissue.