LUNGS
TABLE OF CONTENTS
THE DIMENSIONS AND DESCRIPTIONS
DISEASES
DANGERS
OF SMOKING TO THE LUNGS
INTERESTING
LUNG FACTS
We
hope you enjoy reading this page!
THE DIMENSIONS AND DESCRIPTIONS
The lungs are the two organs that help you
breathe. They are like bags and expand to let in air. They hold the alveoli
where blood is regenerated. Each lung has lobes, which are smaller and
rounded lungs. The left lung has two lobes and the right lung has three
lobes. Between the lungs is a gap called a hilus, where nerves, blood vessels,
and two branches of the air tube called bronchi pass. When the bronchi
get farther inside the lungs they break up into smaller branches called
bronchioles which lead to the alveoli. Oxygen-poor blood goes from the
heart to the alveoli by a system of blood vessels. There, the carbon dioxide
in the blood is exchanged for oxygen and sent back to the heart.
DISEASES
Some diseases of the lungs are bronchitis,
emphysema, lung cancer, asthma, and pneumonia. The leading cause of lung
disease is cigarette smoke. Bronchitis happens when your alveoli get irritated.
Asthma happens when your bronchi get blocked with mucus and get smaller
in diameter due to allergy. Pneumonia happens when your airways get congested
because of viruses or bacteria. Emphysema happens when a few alveoli grow
larger abnormally and can't transfer oxygen to the blood, and carbon dioxide
to the air.
EFFECTS OF SMOKING ON YOUR LUNGS
If you smoke cigarettes, the irritants in the
smoke cause production of mucus. The mucus clogs your airways, causing
smokers to have to cough every now and then to clear the airways of mucus.
If you are exposed to smoke for less than a minute your cilia become paralyzed.
Cilia are hair-like structures that move particles that you breathe in
out of your lungs. If you stay exposed to smoke for a longer period of
time, your cilia become damaged and become unable to do their job. Exposure
to the cancer-causing agents in cigarette smoke causes the formation of
lung cancer cells, which block your bronchioles. So don't smoke, or else
those things might happen to you.
INTERESTING LUNG FACTS
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You take about 5000 breaths a day!
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It's harder to breathe in high altitudes because there's less
air there.
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Every day, you breathe in about 40 billion trillion molecules
of oxygen!
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If an adult human's lungs were spread out and measured, they would
be about 100 square yards!
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The lungs have 300 million alveoli!
MY SOURCES
"Lungs." Microsoft Encarta '95. 1995 Edition. Microsoft Corp. 1992-1994.
"Lungs." Microsoft Encarta 97 Encyclopedia. Microsoft Corp. 1994-1996.
"BodyWorks 4.0." Softkey International, Inc. 1993
Habitrol Nicotine Transdermal Theraputic System Patient Guide
to COPD and Lung Cancer
Nye, Bill. "Episode Guide: Respiration." <http://nyelabs.kcts.org/nyeverse/episode/e40.html>