Air’s Path Through the Body
When you breathe in, air enters through your nose or mouth and travels down a tube in your neck. It then splits into two branches and reaches the lungs, where tiny sacs pass oxygen into your blood.
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Age 12: open this week
Browse Age 12In the picture
- Nose — air enters here and is warmed and moistened.
- Windpipe — the ridged tube that carries air down the neck.
- Bronchi — the point where the windpipe splits into two branches, one for each lung.
- Alveoli — tiny sacs at the end of the branch where oxygen passes into the blood.
Examples
- Breathing in the steam of a hot bowl of soup through your nose.
- Blowing out a candle with lips pursed.
Key takeaways
- Air follows one continuous route: nose or mouth, windpipe, bronchi, lungs.
- Oxygen crosses into the blood in the tiny alveoli sacs, and carbon dioxide comes back out.
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Three questions on this lesson. It has left the free week, so its quiz is for subscribers.
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