The Respiratory System

The respiratory system is the body's system that carries all the oxygen needed by muscles work, the cells and tissues in the body. It is also responsible for removing waste products from the body produced during respiration such as carbon dioxide. There are several small parts that all have a part to play in the respiratory system.

The early part of the naval cavity system is paired with the mouth to get air intake (with the necessary oxygen in it) into the body. Air and then into the pharynx (better known as the gullet) in which the throat is divided into two different pipes, medically known as the trachea (windpipe) and esophagus (food pipe). Clear the air down the trachea after moving through the larynx (also known as the voice box used as a protection for the trachea by causing the body to cough if food is "down the wrong path").

The trachea then leads to the two lungs in the body which is where gas exchange takes place, and the lung itself consists of several different parts. The first part is a two bronchi that comes from the trachea, one leading to each lung. Bronchi then divided into many smaller bronchioles, the air divides itself until it reaches the alveoli, where gas exchange takes place. Alveoli is designed by nature to have a very large surface area to volume is very small by having curved surfaces and corrugated so that gas (oxygen in particular) can penetrate the capillary wall to walk past these alveoli. Oxygen can then be inserted into the blood and used by the body. At the same time carbon dioxide in the blood that has been produced as a waste product is passed back to the lungs so it can be excreted from the body back of the throat and out through the mouth and nose.

The respiratory system is also how we breathe in the first place, which is all due to pressure changes in the lungs caused by the diaphragm. When the diaphragm contracts it pushes lungs until compressing them. This increases the pressure on the lungs and when the pressure becomes greater than the air pressure outside the body, the air will leave the body. When the diaphragm relaxes, the lungs expand, which then lowers the air pressure to pull back again.