30.

2 Respiration and Gas Exchange

Ch 30 L 2 Respiration and Gas Exchange

Part 1
30.2 Respiration and Gas Exchange
Objectives
• Summarize gas exchange in the lungs.
• Describe how respiratory diseases interfere with gas
exchange.
30.2 Respiration and Gas Exchange
Gas exchange occurs in the alveoli of the lungs.
• Recall that the cells in your body carry out cellular
respiration, which requires O2 and produces CO2 as
a waste product.
• Thus, every cell in the body needs O2 and must get
rid of CO2.
• However, the alveoli and their capillaries are the only
places where gas exchange with the atmosphere
occurs.
• The lungs bring in a steady supply of O2 and expel
excess CO2.
• Gas exchange in the lungs is based on three
principles:
1. O2 and CO2 are carried by the blood.
2. Gases move by diffusion—that is, they move from an
area of higher concentration to an area of lower
concentration.
3. The lining of the alveoli must be moist to help gases
diffuse.
30.2 Respiration and Gas Exchange
Diffusion of O2 and CO2
• In the alveoli, the respiratory and circulatory systems come together in the
process of gas exchange.
• When you inhale, air flows from the bronchi to the bronchioles and finally to the
alveoli.
• Each alveolus is about the size of a grain of sand, but all of the alveoli together
give the lungs a surface area of about 100 square meters.
• Without this huge area for gas exchange, the lungs would be unable to extract
enough O2 from the air to keep you alive.
ALVEOLI

capillaries
30.2 Respiration and Gas Exchange
Diffusion of O2 and CO2
• A complex network of capillaries surrounds and penetrates the alveoli.
• Blood entering these capillaries contains a lower concentration of O2 than does
the air in the alveoli.
• As a result, the O2 diffuses from an area of high concentration in the alveoli to
an area of low concentration in the capillaries.
• The blood in the capillaries contain red blood cells, a type of cell that picks up
oxygen in the lungs and delivers it to all of the body’s cells.
GAS EXCHANGES
capillary
alveolus

Co2 diffuses
into alveolus. co2

o2 O2 diffuses
into blood.
30.2 Respiration and Gas Exchange
Diffusion of O2 and CO2
• In red blood cells, most of the O2
molecules bind to an iron-rich protein
called hemoglobin.
• Each molecule of hemoglobin binds with
four O2 molecules.
• The iron in hemoglobin is what gives
blood its reddish color.
• Blood becomes bright red only when it
absorbs oxygen. GAS EXCHANGES
• The blood leaving the alveoli carries
capillary
almost three times the amount of O2 that alveolus
it had coming into the lungs.
Co2 diffuses
into alveolus. co2

o2 O2 diffuses
into blood.
30.2 Respiration and Gas Exchange
Diffusion of O2 and CO2
• ​In contrast, CO2 concentrations are higher in the blood than in the alveoli.
• As a result, CO2 diffuses into the alveoli.
• The higher concentration of CO2 in the blood is due to the fact that every
cell produces CO2 and water as waste products.
• The CO2 and water combine in the blood to form the compound carbonic
acid.
• The more carbonic acid there is in the blood, the more acidic the blood
becomes.
GAS EXCHANGES
• When carbonic acid diffuses into the capillary
alveoli, the compound separates into alveolus

CO2 and water, which are exhaled.​

Co2 diffuses
into alveolus. co2

o2 O2 diffuses
into blood.
30.2 Respiration and Gas Exchange
H.W.
• Read pages 856 and 866.
• Solve worksheet 1.
30.2 Respiration and Gas Exchange

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