Respiration and gas exchange

Respiration
• Every living cell needs energy for;
• Contracting muscle
• Making protein molecules
• Growing and repairing damaged tissues
• Active transport
• Transmitting nerve impulses
• Producing heat inside the body
Where does this energy
come from?
 Where does this energy come from?
• All of this energy come from food that we eat.
• The food is digested and absorbed from
intestine to blood
• The blood transports the nutrients to all the
cells in the body.
• Cells break down the glucose molecules to
release the energy from them. They do this in a
series of metabolic reactions called respiration.
 There are two types of respiration
• Aerobic respiration; cells release energy from
glucose by combining it with oxygen. This is
called aerobic respiration.
Aerobic respiration or cellular respiration

• Most of the steps of aerobic respiration takes

place inside mitochondria
 Anaerobic respiration
• It is possible to release energy from sugar without
using oxygen.
• This process is called as anaerobic respiration.
• Simple organisms like Yeast, a single-celled fungus,
some bacteria and some animal cell do anaerobic
respiration to get energy
• Plant can also make anaerobic respiration for short
periods of time
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U4WwWuVZSe4
Anaerobic respiration (Fermentation)
Investigating Uptake of Oxygen by Respiring
Organisms
• We can investigate aerobic respiration in living organisms
by measuring the amount of oxygen that they take from the air
• This is done by measuring the change in volume in an enclosed
tube containing the organisms
• However, as they respire the organisms release carbon dioxide,
which increases the gas volume
• The carbon dioxide must therefore be removed from the tube using
a chemical like soda lime or sodium hydroxide, otherwise it will
make the experiment results inaccurate
• Any small organisms can be used in the apparatus,
including seeds or arthropods
• The apparatus (shown below) is known as a respirometer
Investigating Uptake of Oxygen by Respiring
Organisms
• The apparatus consists of two tubes, one containing the
living organisms and the other with glass beads to act as
a control
• Once the apparatus has been set up, the movement of the
coloured liquid towards the insect will give a measure of the
volume of oxygen taken up by the insect for respiration
• The reduction of volume in the tube increases pressure
causing the coloured liquid to move
• The distance moved by the liquid in a given time is measured
will provide the volume of oxygen taken in by the insect per
minute
 Gas exchange in humans
• Oxygen is obtained in a different way.
• Animals and plants get their oxygen directly from their
surroundings.
• Carbon dioxide is made end if the respiration in the cell.
• It should be removed from the body
• In organisms there is special areas where the oxygen
enters and carbon dioxide leaves.
• One gas entering, the other leaving.
• This is called gas exchange.
 Surfaces of gas exchange
• They have to be permeable
• They are thin to allow gases to diffuse
• They are so close the transport system to take
gases to and from exchange surface.
• They have large surface area, so that a lot of
gas can diffuse.
• https://
www.youtube.com/watch?v=dVNr8IwaGqQ
 The human breathing system
• Human gas exchange system
• The most important are the two lungs
• Each lung is filled with many tiny air spaces
called air sac or alveoli
• The lugs are supplied with air through the
windpipe or trachea
• https://
www.youtube.com/watch?v=B44n2SMLv-s
The human breathing system
 The nose and mouth
• Air can enter the body through either the nose
or mouth
• It is better to breathe through the nose
• Nose warm, moist and filter the air before it
gets to the lung.
• Goblet cell make mucus in nose
• The cillia (tiny hairs) trap the bacteria and dust
all along the trachea and bronchi
Goblet and cillia cells
 The trachea
• Trachea or windpipe passages the air from
nose to the lung.
• At the top of the trachea is a piece of cartilage
called epiglottis.
• This closes the trachea and stops food going
down the trachea when you swallow.
• Just below the epiglottis is the voice box or
larynx.
The trachea
 The Trachea
• Rings of cartilage surround the trachea (and
bronchi)
• The function of the cartilage is to support the
airways and keep them open during breathing
• If they were not present then the sides could
collapse inwards when the air pressure inside
the tubes drops
 The bronchi and alveoli
• The trachea goes down through the neck and
into the thorax.
• The two branches are called the right and left
bronchi(singular: bronchus)
• At the end of the bronchiole are many tiny air
sacs or alveoli.
• This is where gas exchange takes place.
Alveoli
 The Intercostal Muscles
• Muscles are only able to pull on bones, not push on
them
• This means that there must be two sets of intercostal
muscles; one to pull the rib cage up and another set
to pull it down
• One set of intercostal muscles is found on the outside
of the ribcage (the external intercostal muscles)
• The other set is found on the inside of the rib cage
(the internal intercostal muscles)
 Gas exchange in alveoli
• The walls of alveoli have several features
which make them an efficient gas exchange
surface.
• They are very thin
• They have excellent transport system
• They have a large surface area
• They have a good supply of oxygen
Gas exchange in alveoli
 Breathing movements
• To take air move in and out of the lungs, you
must keep changing the volume of your thorax.
• Getting oxygen into body and giving carbon
dioxide off the body is called breathing.
• Muscles which help the breathing are called
intercostal muscles. They are found between the
ribs.
• Diaphragm is a large sheet of muscle and elastic
tissue which moves up and down.
 Breathing in (inspiration)
• When breathing in, the muscles of the
diaphragm contract;
 This pulls diaphragm downwards
 External intercostal muscles contract
 The volume of the thorax increases
 The pressure inside it falls below atmospheric
pressure.
 Lungs are filled with air
 Breathing out(expiration)
• When breathing out, the muscles of the
diaphragm relax.
• This pushes diaphragm upwards
• External intercostal muscles relax
• The volume of thorax decreases
• The pressure inside it increase above
atmospheric pressure
• Lungs give air out.
Differences between Inhaled & Exhaled Air

• Air that is breathed in and air that is breathed out has different

amounts of gases in it due to exchanges that take place in
the alveoli
• Atmospheric air contains around 20 – 21% oxygen, of which we
only absorb around 4 – 5%, breathing out air containing
around 16% oxygen
• Normal carbon dioxide content of air is around 0.04% and, as
carbon dioxide diffuses into the alveoli from the blood, we
breathe out air containing around 4% carbon dioxide
• The air we breathe out contains more water vapour than when
we breathe it in, and the temperature of exhaled air is
higher than inhaled air
 Using Limewater to Test for CO2 in Exhaled
Air
• When we breathe in, the air is drawn through boiling
tube A
• When we breathe out, the air is blown into boiling tube
B
• Lime water is clear but becomes cloudy (or milky)
when carbon dioxide is bubbled through it
• The lime water in boiling tube A will remain clear, but
the limewater in boiling tube B will become cloudy
• This shows us that the percentage of carbon dioxide in
exhaled air is higher than in inhaled air
 Exercise and breathing rate
• When you exercise or do some hard work, the
muscles in your leg need a lot of energy.
• Then you breathe deeper and faster to get
more oxygen into your blood.
• If your heart and lung don’t supply oxygen to
the muscles any faster, extra energy can be
produces by anaerobic respiration.
• Some glucose is broken down without oxygen
Less energy is released
 Lactic Acid & The Oxygen Debt
• Lactic acid builds up in muscle cells and lowers the pH of the cells (making
them more acidic)
• This could denature the enzymes in cells so it needs to be removed
• Cells excrete lactic acid into the blood. When blood passes through the liver,
lactic acid is taken up into liver cells where it is oxidized, producing carbon
dioxide and water (Lactic acid reacts with oxygen – this is actually aerobic
respiration with lactic acid as the nutrient molecule instead of glucose)
• So the waste products of lactic acid oxidation are carbon dioxide and water
• This is the reason we continue to breath heavily and our heart rate remains
high even after finishing exercise – we need to transport the lactic acid from
our muscles to the liver, and continue getting larger amounts of oxygen into
the blood to oxidize the lactic acid
• This is known as ‘repaying the oxygen debt’.
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PthdswsrM3Y