RESPIRATION FOR OXYGEN TRANSPORT, CONCEPTUAL IMPLICATIONS
Author: @madridbg, via Power Point 2010, using public domain images. Prettysleepy
Greetings and welcome dear readers of this prestigious platform, serve the present delivery as a conceptual approach to one of the basic topics at the level of general biochemistry, which has implications in the laws of gases that is handled in chemistry as a science, referring to respiration in the face of gaseous transport, specifically oxygen.
The idea behind this publication is to explain in a daily way the flow and behavior of oxygen from the air to our lungs, as it would allow me to answer a question posed by my 6 year old daughter who questions how oxygen allows us to stay alive.
So I will not extend this population in the scientific, on the contrary I will look for less technical words that will allow me to give an answer to this phenomenon, without using the forte of science. In this sense, it is to be expected that respiration is an exchange of gases from the outside to the inside of our system and vice versa.
As we all know living beings, with the exception of plants, absorb oxygen and release carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, on average about 500 milliliters of air enter our lungs in each inhalation we make, a small amount if you will, but add this value by the number of daily inhalations and you will realize the large amount of air mass that moves from our lungs to the outside and vice versa.
Fig. 2. Gaseous molecules adapt to the container that holds them. Author: Shafin Al Asad Protic
Now, how much of this air is actually usable, it is estimated that only 3% of each inhalation is used in the form of oxygen, since the inhaled air passes through approximately 150 million alveolar sacs in the lungs, acquires moisture, mixes with the air from the previous inhalation, increasing the partial concentrations of water vapor generated and available carbon dioxide.
During the above interaction, the small part of oxygen present passes through the walls of the pulmonary alveoli and reaches the arterial blood, which is responsible for transporting it to all the tissues of our body and the surplus is stored in the hemoglobin molecules, which are large proteins that have the ability to bind to 4 atoms of oxygen to maintain the balance and availability of these substances.
Fig. 3. The gaseous oxygen molecules travel through the blood system to our organs. Author: Arek Socha
Undoubtedly, this exchange process is more complex than what is mentioned here and that we will go deeper in other deliveries, so I would like to know your perspective on the approach to science under a flexible methodology.
CONSULTED BIBLIOGRAPHICAL REFERENCES
[1] Chang, R. (2010). Chemistry. Tenth edition. McGraw-hill Interamericana publishers. ISBN: 978-607-15-0307-7.
[2] Ralph, H. Petrucci, William S. Harwood, E. Geoffrey Herring. (2003). GENERAL CHEMISTRY. Eighth edition. PEARSON EDUCACIÓN. S.A., Madrid.
[3] WADE,LEROY. (2011). . ORGANIC CHEMISTRY. VOLUME 2. SEVENTH EDITION. PEARSON EDUCACIÓN, MEXICO, 2011 ISBN: 978-607-32.()793-5. AREA: SCIENCES.
OF INTEREST
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Grateful with the community @project.hope and with all the management team of the same one that they motivate us to continue working in a mutual and balanced growth.
Greetings @madridbg, thank you for sharing this important information, because oxygen is very important for our brain, since if we do not get oxygen we run a high risk of brain death.
Greetings dear @carlir, undoubtedly science allows us to understand many aspects of our daily lives, hence it is necessary to keep us informed about the scientific aspects. Greetings
Oxygen supply to the body is very useful especially to our brain. If the brain is deprived of oxygen for more than 5min brain death will start to occur, your daughter really ask an important question.
Greetings @jennyvic09, yes it is certainly a question that made me think about it so that I could approach the subject in the best way to make it understandable for a 6 year old girl. Success on your homework.