The respiratory system moves oxygen from the air into the body and moves carbon dioxide out of the body into the air. In other words, the respiratory system enables you to breathe.
The lungs are the main organs of the respiratory system. Breathing begins with the diaphragm, which contracts when we inhale and expands when we exhale. When we breathe, we inhale oxygen and exhale carbon dioxide. This exchange of gases is the respiratory system’s function.
When you breathe in, air enters your nose or mouth and goes down a long tube called the trachea. The trachea branches into two bronchial (BRON kee uhl) tubes which go to the lungs. The bronchial tubes end in the alveoli (al VEE uh lye), or air sacs. Oxygen follows this path, passing through the walls of the air sacs and blood vessels and into the blood stream. Carbon dioxide, a waste product of the body, follows the opposite route. It passes from the blood stream, through the walls of the blood vessels and air sacs, through the bronchial tubes, and up the trachea into the mouth or nose, where it is exhaled.
Question
In an asthma attack, the tiny airways in the lungs constrict, or squeeze shut. What effect does this have on the body’s gas-exchange system?
Oxygen is still able to get into the large airways, but is not able to get into the tiny air sacs to enter the blood stream. In addition, the waste product carbon dioxide builds up in the body because it has no way out.
