Basic Human Anatomy: Respiratory System

Question 1

The respiratory system involves your airway and breathing. A and B of your A, B, Cs. Where is the respiratory system located

Answer 1

The entire respiratory system is contained in the head, neck, and thorax.

Question 2

Let’s follow the path a breath takes to understand the parts.

Answer 2

As air enters through the nasal and oral cavities, air is humidified before moving on.

Question 3

After the nose and mouth, it moves back towards the pharynx.

Answer 3

The pharynx, as you can see here, is the passageway that connects the nose and mouth to the throat or larynx.

Question 4

nasopharynx and oropharynx

Answer 4

The part of the pharynx that is superior or closer to the nose is called the nasopharynx and the part closer to the mouth is called the oropharynx.

Question 5

We also just mentioned the larynx and it includes a couple of really important structures.

Answer 5

Ever wonder how it is that you can keep food from going into your lungs even though you breathe through your mouth too? It’s because of the incredible design of the structures in the larynx.

Question 6

the cartilaginous structures

Answer 6

The larynx includes the cartilaginous structures at the front of your neck. Go ahead, take a feel. Notice the pieces that are kind of firm there or maybe you’ve heard of the Adam’s apple

Question 7

What is the adam’s apple

Answer 7

This is actually called the thyroid cartilage and the cricoid cartilage and this forms the anterior portion of your larynx.

Question 7

What does the larynx contain on the inside

Answer 7

On the inside, your larynx includes your vocal cords and a really important flexible piece of tissue called your epiglottis. This is what covers the opening of the vocal cords when you swallow. This piece of tissue keeps the food out of your airway.

Question 7

What happens when air enters the lower airways

Answer 7

Once the air enters the lower airways, it travels from the trachea to the bronchi to the bronchioles to the alveoli.

Question 7

We’ve gone from the nose or mouth to the pharynx to the larynx.

Answer 7

In the larynx, it passes by the epiglottis, which is open since you are breathing and not swallowing and through the vocal cords into the trachea. As it enters the trachea, it has passed from the upper airway into the lower airways.

Question 8

What are the bronchi nad bronchiloes

Answer 8

The bronchi and bronchioles are tubular structures that mostly function as the roadways for air to travel into the lungs.

Question 9

What is the alveoli

Answer 9

The alveoli are small sac-like structures with really thin walls that are positioned right next to small blood vessels called capillaries.

Question 10

lungs and lobes

Answer 10

The lungs are the sponge-like organs that hold all these airways we just talked about, they are broken up into lobes.

Question 10

alveolar-capillary

Answer 10

At this alveolar-capillary interface is where the oxygen from the air you breathe in crosses into the blood. It is also where the carbon dioxide that your body produces crosses into the lungs so that it can be expired out. This whole path is reversed with the carbon dioxide leaving from the alveoli to the bronchioles, the bronchi, the trachea, out the larynx, pharynx, and finally out of the body through the nose and mouth.

Question 11

Right lungs vs left lungs

Answer 11

The right lung has three lobes and the left lung has two. The left one is a little bit smaller because it has to share space with the heart.

Question 12

What is the pleura

Answer 12

The lungs are surrounded by a pleura, which is a thick fibrous covering. It functions a little bit like the fluid in the joints that you learned about earlier and allow the lungs to slide more easily within the chest cavity.

Question 13

the lungs are surrounded by the ribcage and intercostal muscles. Before closing out the respiratory system, we have to mention the diaphragm. What is the diaphragam

Answer 13

The diaphragm is the muscle that divides the thorax or chest cavity from the abdomen. When you take a breath in, in addition to your intercostal muscles contracting, the diaphragm also contracts. Both of these things increase the volume of the thorax and allow air to be drawn into the lungs.

Question 14

here are countless things that can go wrong with the various parts of this system.

Answer 14

From obstructions in the upper airway that prevent air from entering it all, to fluid accumulation in the alveoli that prevent oxygen movement from the alveoli into the blood. Both of these events will result in a patient with respiratory distress and over the course of this specialization, you will learn to identify these problems and initiate treatment for them.