We mentioned in class that lungs are made up of many tiny alveoli, which increas

Question

We mentioned in class that lungs are made up of many tiny alveoli, which increases the overall surface area of the lungs. This is important because the rate of exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide depends on the size of this surface area. Estimate the following: a) the surface area that lungs would have if they consisted of two bags occupying the upper half of a human torso b) the actual surface area provided by the alveoli (according to Wikipedia, 4 the lungs of an adult male have about 300 million alveoli ranging in diameter from 75 m to 300 m) c) the ratio of your results for (a) and (b) In your solution, make clear the model that you use to calculate these surface areas and any additional assumptions you make beyond the information provided in the problem.

Explanation / Answer

The average number of alveoli in each human is 280 million
The average surface area of 1 million is 0.25m3

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