Human Respiratory and how it relates to ventilation

1.1 The Respiratory System and How It Relates To
The Process Of Ventilation
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The respiratory's systems primary function is to supply oxygen around the body and to get rid of the carbon dioxide in our body. The respiratory system is made up of several parts and during this essay I am going to describe them and say what there process is during ventilation.
The first thing air goes through when we breath is the mouth or nose, the nose helps warm the air coming in and to also stop any unwanted particles such as dust and dirt getting into our body, this is done by the little hairs in the nose and also by the mucus. The upper part of the nose is lined with olfactory epithelium and the lower part are lined with pseudostratified ciliated colummnar epithelium (ambulance tech web). After the nose the air travels down to the pharynx, this is divided into three parts nasopharnx, oropharynx and the laryngopharynx. The oropharynx and the laryngopharynx are what help with the respiratory system and are part of the alimentary tract and it is lined with non-keratinized stratified squamous. From the pharynx air goes to the larynx, this helps in warming the air and helps stop unwanted objects getting through. It is lined with the same thing as the pharynx but also contains pseudostratified ciliated columnar epithelium, it as epiglottis, thyroid, arytenoid and cricoid cartilage. Our vocal cords are in this area as well, and when air comes through it causes them to vibrate which makes the sounds we make. Next comes the trachea it is around 10cm long and 2.5cm in diameter (ambulance tech), it as a C shaped hyaline cartilage which is not complete and there are rings around it that are completed by the trachealis muscle. Air passes down the trachea and into the two tubes known as the bronchi these branch off to the left and right and are contected to the lungs. The bronchi are similar structure to the trachea but they have a lining of ciliated columnar epithelium, as the tubes get smaller the cartilage get irregular and smaller until it is gone all together, the smooth muscle then gets thicker, the smaller tubes are called bronchioles. These tubes go into the lungs, the right lung as 3 lobes and the left as 2 lobes and the lungs are between 10 and 12 inches long (ambulance tech web). We breath in 13 pints a minute and we breath in more than 5000 times a day. The function of the lungs is to transport oxygen from the air into the bloodstream and to get rid of carbon dioxide. Attached to the end of the bronchioles that are in the lungs is something called alveoli sacs, these are like a bunch of grapes and it is these that allow new oxygen from the air to be distributed into the bloodstream. The surface area of the alveoli if it was to be laid flat would be a third of the size of a tennis court and it is pure tissue (dr standley web).The alveoli helps the process of gas exchange which is seperating the good air from the carbon dioxide. The lungs also help toowards the diaphragm working because as we breath in the lungs expand causing our ribs to move up and out which causes the diaphragm to lower, as the lungs empty when we breath out the ribs lower and move in which causes the diaphragm to raise.
Overall our respiratory system is a very clever thing, even though it's structure is fairly simple the way in which it works is very complex and it is good how the mucus in the nose helps stop unwanted stuff getting into our body and also how something that looks like a bunch of grapes can help get rid of carbon dioxide and also have such a large surface area.