Gas Exchange

Gas exchange is a process in biology where gases contained in an organism and atmosphere transfer or exchange. In human gas-exchange, gases contained in the blood of human bodies exchange with gases contained in the atmosphere. Human gas-exchange occurs in the lungs. In unicellular organisms the respiratory surface and gas-exchange is governed by Fick's law. In humans and mammals, respiratory gas exchange is carried out by mechanisms of the heart and lungs. Ventilation is the process of air movement into and out of the lungs. Once air enters the lungs, diffusion of O2 and CO2 occurs in the alveoli. The oxygenated blood is then perfused throughout the body where gas exchange occurs in the capillary beds.

Read more about Gas Exchange:  Pulmonary Physics, Interchange, Diffusion, Control of Respiration

Famous quotes containing the words gas and/or exchange:

    ... when I awake in the middle of the night, since I knew not where I was, I did not even know at first who I was; I only had in the first simplicity the feeling of existing as it must quiver in an animal.... I spent one second above the centuries of civilization, and the confused glimpse of the gas lamps, then of the shirts with turned-down collars, recomposed, little by little, the original lines of my self.
    Marcel Proust (1871–1922)

    Let every woman ask herself: “Why am I the slave of man? Why is my brain said not to be the equal of his brain? Why is my work not paid equally with his? Why must my body be controlled by my husband? Why may he take my labor in the household, giving me in exchange what he deems fit? Why may he take my children from me? Will them away while yet unborn?” Let every woman ask.
    Voltairine Decleyre (1866–1912)