Your lungs are one of the most important organ in the body and are the biggest organs in the body. Our lungs are important because we need them to get the air into our bloodstream so that it can be used around the body.

The lungs are the organs in the human body which help us to breathe. Our lungs are located inside the ribcage and near the heart so that the blood can travel easily.

First when we breathe air in, our lungs pump the air down the air pipe (trachea) which splits evenly into two tubes which lead into the left and right lungs. The two tubes which transport the air into the lung split in half 22 times (bronchi) which produces more than 100,000 smaller tubes (bronchioles). These bronchioles then lead to more than 300 million air sacks (alveoli).

Because the thickness of the air sacs is 1/50 the thickness of tissue paper and are covered in lots tiny blood cells called capillaries it allows the oxygen from the air which is breathed in to be absorbed into the blood cells. So that it can be used around the body. The carbon dioxide which is in the blood which the body doesn't t need can be transferred into the air so that it can be breathed out.

Did you know that if all the air sacks in the human lungs were spread out flat they would cover the are of a tennis court! Did you know that only 10% of the area in the lungs consist of hard tissue and 90% of the area in the lungs consist of air. The male lungs normally weigh 1060 grams when the average female lungs weigh 930 grams.

1. Where are the lungs located? 2. What is the name of the smaller tubes that lead directly to the air sacs? 3. If you spread all the air sacs from the lungs out flat what area would they be equal to?

1. Inside the ribcage 2. They are called bronchioles 3. The area of a tennis court

THANK YOU FOR LISTENING We hope you have learnt about the lungs By John Wong & Owen Turner