(a) Explain how, the air we breathe in gets cleaned while passing through the nasal passage.
(b) Why do the walls of trachea not collapse when there is less air in it?
(c) How are oxygen and carbon dioxide exchanged in our body during respiration ?
(d) How are lungs designed in human beings to maximise the exchange of gases?
(a) When air passes through the nasal passage, the dust particles and other impurities present in it are trapped by nasal hair and mucus so that clean air goes into the lungs.
(b) Trachea does not collapse even when there is no air in it because it is supported by rings of soft bones called cartilage.
(c) During the process of ‘breathing in’ the air sacs or alveoli of the lungs get filled with air containing oxygen. The alveoli are surrounded by capillaries carrying blood so the oxygen of air diffuses from the alveoli walls into the blood from where it is carried to all the parts of the body. As the blood passes through the tissues of the body, the oxygen present in it diffuses into the cells. This oxygen combines with the digested food to release energy. Carbon dioxide gas is produced as a waste product during respiration in the cells of the body tissues which diffuses into the blood. Blood carries the carbon dioxide back to the lungs where it diffuses into the alveoli.
(d) The human lungs have been designed to maximise the exchange of gases as there are millions of alveoli in the lungs which provides a large surface area for the exchange of gases.