Respiratory SystemMs. Bowman

Functions

• Supply the body with oxygen• Dispose of carbon dioxide

Components

• Made up of the nose, nasal cavity, pharynx, larynx, trachea, bronchi (and smaller branches), lungs (and its components)

Nose• Only externally visible part of the

respiratory system• Functions• Provides an airway for respiration• Moistens and warms entering air• Filters and cleans inhaled air• Serves as a resonating chamber for

speech• Houses olfactory (smell) receptors

• 2 nostrils divided by a cartilaginous septum

Pharynx

• Connects the nasal cavity and mouth to the larynx and esophagus

• Also called the throat• Walls are lined with

muscles (for swallowing)

Larynx

• Also called the voice box• Between the pharynx and the

trachea• Houses vocal cords• 3 functions• Provide an open airway • Act as a switching mechanism to

route air and food into proper channels

• Voice production

Trachea• Also called windpipe• Extends from larynx

into the mediastinum (**remember-the cavity in the chest that houses the heart) to the bronchi

• Cilia(hairlike projections) line the wall and filter debris from entering the lungs

Bronchi• The bronchi and its branches

are often referred to as the Bronchial Tree (because it looks like a tree branching off of the trachea)

• 2 main bronchi branch off from the trachea and then continue to branch off inside of each lung

• At the end of the terminal bronchioles, there are alveoli (thin-walled air sacs)

Lungs• Paired lungs occupy all of the

thoracic cavity except the mediastinum

• Each lung suspended in its own pleural cavity and connected to mediastinum by vascular and bronchial attachments

• The exchange of fresh oxygen into the blood and carbon dioxide waste product out of the blood occurs at the alveoli