Upward Bound Math Science

Upward Bound Math Science Name: Anatomy Mr. McDowell Lung Capacity Lab

Introduction

Everybody breathes all day, every day. Why?

First, answer this question based on your current knowledge. Then, discuss each of the following questions to develop a more complete understanding of why and how we breathe all day every day.

1. Why do your muscles and other parts of your body need oxygen?

All parts of your body need energy to do their work. For example, muscles need energy to contract, and all parts of your body need energy to synthesize needed molecules.

Your body gets the energy it needs by combining food molecules with oxygen in a process called cellular respiration. For example, in your body, the sugar glucose is combined with oxygen to release energy your body can use. This is shown in the following chemical reaction.

C6H12O6 + 6 O2 --> 6 CO2 + 6 H2O + energy your body can use

You know that a fire needs fuel and oxygen from the air to keep burning. Similarly, your muscles and other parts of your body need to have a continuous supply of glucose (or other high-energy molecules) and oxygen to provide the energy for muscle contraction and other body functions.

When your body breaks down glucose, carbon dioxide is produced. Too much carbon dioxide can result in damage to muscles or other body parts, so there must be some way to get rid of this carbon dioxide.

The functions we will be testing for in this lab are:

Tidal volume (TV) is the volume of air that enters and exits your lungs during a single, normal breath.

Forced vital capacity (FVC). This measures the amount of air you can exhale with force after you inhale as deeply as possible.

Slow vital capacity (SVC). This measures the amount of air you can slowly exhale after you inhale as deeply as possible.

Total lung capacity (TLC). This measures the amount of air in your lungs after you inhale as deeply as possible. Functional residual capacity (FRC). This measures the amount of air in your lungs at the end of a normal exhaled breath.

Expiratory reserve volume (ERV). This measures the difference between the amount of air in your lungs after a normal exhale (FRC) and the amount after you exhale with force (RV).

What is the Volume of Your Lungs?

What you'll need:

 Clean plastic tubing  A large plastic bottle  Water  Kitchen sink or large water basin

Instructions:

1. Make sure the plastic tubing is clean 2. Fill the plastic tub about ½ way full of water. 3. Fill the plastic bottle right to the top with water. 4. Put your hand over the top of the bottle to stop water escaping when you turn it upside down. 5. Turn the bottle upside down. Place the top of the bottle under the water in the tub before removing your hand. 6. Push one end of the plastic tube into the bottle.

7.To measure tidal capacity, hold your nose closed, and exhale normally into the tubing. Do not force your breathing. Record the volume of water that was displaced. This is the tidal capacity.

8.Refill the bottle with water from the tub and repeat step 3 to prepare for the next measurement.

9.To measure vital capacity, take a deep breath, hold your nose closed, and exhale as much of the breath as you can into the tube. Record the volume of water that was displaced. This is the vital capacity.

10.Repeat each measurement three times for each participant. Allow a minute or two of rest between measurements of vital capacity. What's happening?

As you breathe out through the tube, the air from your lungs takes the place of the water in the bottle. If you made sure you took a big breath in and breathed out fully then the resulting volume of water you pushed out is equivalent to how much air your lungs can hold. Having a big air capacity in your lungs means you can distribute oxygen around your body at a faster rate. The air capacity of lungs (or VO2 max) increases naturally as children grow up but can also be increased with regular exercise.

Questions to answer: 1) Why did the water stay inside the inverted jar?

2) Why did you have to inhale as deeply as possible before exhaling?

3) When exhaling, what do you have to do in order to get a true measure of your total lung capacity?

4) What factors could affect the volume of air different people can exhale?

Explanation: By inhaling as deeply as we can, we are actually filling our lungs with air. When we blow all the air out through the tube and into the jar, we are moving the volume of air held in our lungs. This is the capacity of the lungs. Factors that can affect the volume of air exhaled include the size of the person, age, and other existing respiratory conditions.

What's Going On • The amount of air you can hold in your lungs is called lung capacity, and can be measured with a spirometer. Blowing air from your lungs into the bottle forces a measurable amount of the water out of the bottle, which adds to the volume of water in your pan. This method of measuring uses displacement – you're displacing a volume of water with a volume of air.

Displacement is often used when something can't be measured directly. What else could you measure using displacement? Diagram of the Displacement Spirometer:

large jar calibrations

rubber tube plastic bin

flat rock

Measure the Capacity of Your Lungs Review Questions

What was your lung capacity?

What was your partner’s lung capacity?

What was the greatest vital lung capacity in your group?

Who had it?

What was the least vital lung capacity in your group?

Who had it?

Was there a difference between the Forced Vital Capacity and the Slow Vital Capacity?

Explain your answer from above.

Explain the difference between Tidal Capacity and Vital Capacity. What differences (body size, gender, asthma, etc.) were there between the person with the greatest lung capacity and the person with the least lung capacity?

Describe any correlation between body size and lung capacity.

Compare your lung capacity with the following:

Vital Capacity in cm3 age male female 12 1850 1600 13 2000 1800 14 2200 2000 15 2500 2200 16 2700 2250 17 3150 2300 18 3200 2350 Vital Capacity in cm3 athlete 4800 swimmer 4900 oarsman 5400

Breathing Lab Breathing and Energy Tasks: 1. Close your eyes. Try to breathe in and out naturally. Count your breathing rate for 30 seconds. Repeat this four times. Calculate your average rate of breathing at rest per minute...... ………… ………… …………. breaths per 30 seconds

……….. average breathing rate at rest per minute

2. Now run on the spot vigorously for 1 minute and count your breathing rate again for 30 seconds. Repeat four times as in task 1.

...... ………… ………… …………. breaths per 30 seconds

……….. average breathing rate after exercise per minute

3. Draw a bar chart to show the breathing rates at rest and after exercise. Breathing Lab Ventilation of the Lungs Tasks: 1. Put one hand on your chest. Breathe in and out deeply. Describe your observation.

2. Now try to breathe in and out without any movement of your chest. Put your hand on your belly just below the ribs. Describe your observation.

3. Study the following text on the ventilation of the lungs, i.e. the mechanisms responsible for the sucking in and the pushing out of air. Sum up the main details in a table.

When your inhale, the external intercostal muscles contract, which moves the ribcage up and out. At the same time the diaphragm contracts, which makes it become flatter and move downwards. These muscle movements increase the volume of the chest cavity or thorax. As a result the pressure in the thorax drops below the atmospheric pressure. Thus air flows into the lungs from the outside of the body until the pressure inside the lungs rises to atmospheric pressure. When you exhale, the internal intercostal muscles contract, which makes the ribcage move down and in. As the diaphragm relaxes, the belly organs push the diaphragm back upwards into a curved shape. These movements decrease the volume of the thorax, which raises the pressure inside the thorax above atmospheric pressure. So air flows out from the lungs to the outside until the pressure inside the lung falls to atmospheric pressure.

4. Now determine your breathing volume per minute. ……………………… ml air exchange per minute.

5. So, how many liters of air do you exchange in a day (24 hours)? ………………………. l air exchange per day