It is not every gas in the air
that the human body absorbs. The air is not all oxygen. The air is made up of a
number of gases. Not many people know that. For a long time I had thought that
humans breathe in air and that was that. I thought that air and oxygen was one
and the same thing. I could not be more wrong. One day I attended a talk and
the speaker, a water scientist said something that gave a hint that the air is
made up of many gases. Many years after, doing some reading on the matter I got
to know that the air comprises of a mixture of gases. Further, I realized that
the human body does not absorb all the gases it breathes in.
The air is a main component of
the environment. The environment comprises of three main components. They are
the earth or ground, water (sea, rivers etc.) and air. These plus organic
things form the planet Earth. I see planet Earth like a round or spherical
glass floating in space or orbiting the Sun, filled with organic and inorganic
things. The exosphere, a layer of the Earth’s atmosphere forms the border of
the Earth with outer space. The gold fish in an aquarium if it ventures outside
the aquarium it should die under normal circumstances. Everything it needs has
been provided for inside of the aquarium. The aquarium in this sense is like
planet Earth.
The air or the Earth’s atmosphere
is layered. The layers are 5, as follows: troposphere, stratosphere,
mesosphere, thermosphere and exosphere.
The troposphere, the lowest of
the spheres is our apartment, so to speak; that is the home of earthlings. The
exosphere, the highest sphere merges with outer space. It is like a storey-building
of five floors, and we humans are on the ground floor.
The air is made up many gases.
The gases are:
Oxygen- 21%
Hydrogen- 78%
Argon and other trace gases- 0.9%
Respiration is the taking in of
oxygen from the atmosphere into the body of an organism and the release of
carbon dioxide the opposite way. In simple terms, that is the physiological
definition of respiration. Biochemical respiration takes place within the cell
of an organism, and it is the process by which an organism obtains energy by
using oxygen and glucose to give water, carbon dioxide and energy. When air is
breathed it is oxygen that the body absorbs. Physiological respiration takes in
oxygen from the atmosphere into the whole body and releases carbon dioxide from
the whole body, whilst biochemical respiration takes place within a cell of the
body.
The process by which the body
takes in air is inhalation. The organs involved in inhalation are the nasal
passage, the trachea, the lungs and diaphragm. The lungs are always exposed to
the surrounding atmosphere. Twenty minutes or so they take in gaseous mixture.
The lungs inflate and deflate 16 to 20 times per minute in adults, 12 to 20 per
minute in teenagers, 20 to 30 times per minute in children 2 to 12 years old,
and 30 to 50 in newborns. The chest expands and air flows into the body.
The air inhaled contained all the
gases. What happens is that the body absorbs the gas it needs and rejects what
it does not need. In the alveoli(air sacs in the lungs), exchange of gases take
place. Hemoglobin in the red blood cells absorbs the oxygen in the inhaled air.
The gases rejected are inert
gases, and are rejected through exhalation. What they do in inhalation is to
dilute the oxygen absorbed by the body. This could be likened to orange juice
bought from a grocery. Before you start drinking the juice you dilute it with
water to reduce its concentration. After the dilution they are breathed out of
the body.
Your body takes in the oxygen
because it is vital to your body functions i.e. breathing, heartbeat, health of
the brain, normal nervous system etc. The oxygen is needed to convert stored
carbohydrate and fats into energy in the muscles.
So in our practical lives, if one
is able to write, compose, arrange and sing a song, one is being powered by
oxygen. If one trains hard as a wrestler and gets into the ring and fights well
like John Cena of WWE, one is being powered by oxygen. If one picks a laptop
and types a post like I am doing now, one is being powered by oxygen.
It is a life-giving gas; when the
breath of life was blown into Adam he became a living soul. Take an automobile
for example, if you do not fill it with gasoline (petrol) it will not start.
GAS EXCHANGE (Figures are
approximate)
|
GAS
|
% IN INHALED AIR
|
% IN EXHALED AIR
|
|
Oxygen
|
21
|
16
|
|
Carbon Dioxide
|
0.04
|
4
|
|
Nitrogen
|
79
|
79
|
|
Argon
|
1
|
1
|
In inhalation all the gases in
the air are taken in but your body absorbs only oxygen which it needs, and
reject the others. The oxygen is vitally needed in metabolism. Metabolism is a
chemical process which happens in the human body, resulting in the production
of energy, growth and elimination of waste.
Source:
in.answers.yahoo.com/question/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/pe/appliedanatomy/1_anatomy_respiratorysys_rev3.shtml
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