What does this graph mean?
Upon looking at this picture, it's function and explanation may seem a bit much but it's actually quite simple. In continuation with the obstacle course, the air we breath, and out, does different things for the body just as you do many things in an obstacle course to finish it. This diagram shows the volumes of air that the body can hold and also the capacity of the air in the lungs. Let's start with the tidal volume.
Tidal volume is nothing more than the normal amount of air that we breathe in and out when we are at rest. That is why it is the smallest value on the diagram because this amount is only about half a liter. Next, we'll move to the vital capacity.
Ever wondered why your best friend may be able to hold his or her breath under water longer than you can? Well it's because of their vital capacity which is the maximum amount of air we can take in or breathe out. As you can see, this value is one of the biggest on the graph because when we take in a deep breath, the volume of air our lungs can hold increases. As you get older and your lungs grow, this number becomes larger.
Inspiratory and Expiratory Reserve volume refers to the extra amount of air we can breathe in beyond our tidal volume. Before jumping into a pool, we are testing our inspiratory volume to determine how long we can stay under water. Similarly, when we try to blow a balloon up in one breath, we are testing our expiratory reserve volume.
You've got a question? "What would happen if I blew all the air out that my lungs could hold in that balloon?" Well, that's not quite that simple. You see, even when we breathe out as much as we possibly can, we can never eliminate all of the air from our lungs. If we could, well, we would die. Instead of this happening, the lungs has an amount, about 1.2 liters, that always stays in the lungs evening after a deep exhalation. This is called the residual volume. However, we rarely exhale enough air to only have the residual volume amount remain. So all the air that we could choose to exhale plus the residual volume normally remains in our lungs. This value is called the Functional Residual Capacity.
Tidal volume is nothing more than the normal amount of air that we breathe in and out when we are at rest. That is why it is the smallest value on the diagram because this amount is only about half a liter. Next, we'll move to the vital capacity.
Ever wondered why your best friend may be able to hold his or her breath under water longer than you can? Well it's because of their vital capacity which is the maximum amount of air we can take in or breathe out. As you can see, this value is one of the biggest on the graph because when we take in a deep breath, the volume of air our lungs can hold increases. As you get older and your lungs grow, this number becomes larger.
Inspiratory and Expiratory Reserve volume refers to the extra amount of air we can breathe in beyond our tidal volume. Before jumping into a pool, we are testing our inspiratory volume to determine how long we can stay under water. Similarly, when we try to blow a balloon up in one breath, we are testing our expiratory reserve volume.
You've got a question? "What would happen if I blew all the air out that my lungs could hold in that balloon?" Well, that's not quite that simple. You see, even when we breathe out as much as we possibly can, we can never eliminate all of the air from our lungs. If we could, well, we would die. Instead of this happening, the lungs has an amount, about 1.2 liters, that always stays in the lungs evening after a deep exhalation. This is called the residual volume. However, we rarely exhale enough air to only have the residual volume amount remain. So all the air that we could choose to exhale plus the residual volume normally remains in our lungs. This value is called the Functional Residual Capacity.