Researched by Kaylyn F.
2003-04

• PURPOSE 
• HYPOTHESIS 
• EXPERIMENT DESIGN 
• MATERIALS 
• PROCEDURES 
• RESULTS 
• CONCLUSION 

• RESEARCH REPORT 
• BIBLIOGRAPHY 
• ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 

• ABOUT THE AUTHOR 

Introduction
Lungs are elastic organs used by vertebrates to breathe. Since all people need oxygen to live, they are essential to human life. Lung capacity shows how much air the lungs can hold. If the lungs cannot hold enough air, when physical activities are done the person tires more easily and may eventually get sick. Normally, the more air the lungs can hold the healthier you are. 

Lungs
In humans the lungs are paired, they have a right and left lung. These lungs are used mainly for gas exchange. The lungs are positioned on either side of the heart and take up most of the chest cavity, from the collarbone to the diaphragm, though to make room for the heart the left lung is smaller than the right. The texture of the lungs is soft and spongy, and they can be thought of as an elastic bag filled with tiny air chambers called alveoli. If the alveoli were spread flat they would cover about half a tennis court by themselves. Tiny blood vessels called capillaries form a network inside each alveolus. Covering the lungs is a thin, tough membrane called visceral pleura.

Respiratory System
The respiratory system consists of a lot more than just the lungs. The pharynx, larynx and trachea connect the nose and mouth with the lungs. These are more commonly known as the throat, voice box, and windpipe. The trachea then divides into two smaller tubes that each lead to a lung. These are called bronchi and they separate further inside the lungs. The heart and esophagus are between the two lungs.

Breathing
“Breathing is the mechanical procedure in which air reaches the lungs.” Quoted from Encyclopedia dot com, this is the definition of breathing. Breathing is done in two separate stages. First there's inspiration. This is breathing in. Then you have expiration, breathing out. When this happens gasses like carbon dioxide are taken out of the lungs and put into the atmosphere. Both inspiration and expiration are controlled by the part of the brain called the respiratory center. The air we breathe in is mostly nitrogen, and is only 20 per cent oxygen. 

What The Lungs Do
The lungs have one main job, to exchange gasses within the body. The oxygen in the air that our cells need to live gets carried from the starting passages, either the nose or the mouth, into the lungs. The respiratory system carries it to the blood stream, which transports it to cells all over the body. The cells use the oxygen, and then give off carbon dioxide as a waste product. The carbon dioxide is taken back to the blood stream and into the lungs where it can be exhaled or eliminated by an automatic control system.

Wind Instruments
Wind instruments are all the instruments that have tone produced by vibrating air. They are varied in size, shape and function. Some have holes, some have valves and some have slides. In the instrument the wind passage is called the bore. This can be shaped like a cone or be cylindrical. Generally wind instruments are classified into two groups, brass and woodwind. 

Woodwind instruments are separated in three basic families, having a flute family that is played without a reed, the clarinet family using a single reed, and the oboe family played with a double reed. The brass group consists mainly of trumpet, trombone, bugle, and tuba. These have cup shaped mouthpieces. The French horn is also a brass instrument, and has a funnel shaped mouthpiece. Instead of reeds the players control the brass with their vibrating lips.

Lung Diseases
Lung diseases such as cancer are mainly caused by tobacco, which is thought to cause 8 out of every 10 cases. When non-smokers breathe in the smoke it gives them a better chance of getting lung disease. Healthy lungs are important to the overall health of any vertebrate because of the jobs they do. When the lungs fail to work, there is cardiopulmonary resuscitation, an “emergency procedure used to treat victims of cardiac and respiratory arrest.” Quote from Encyclopedia dot com. 

Measuring Lung Capacity
Lung capacity is the total amount of air your lungs can hold. This can be measured in many different ways, one of which is a hand held device that allows people to do it themselves. Called the Pulmonary Function Machine it comes in all kinds of sizes and all have a different way of measuring. A small one is called the Ko Ko Peak+. It can measure both total lung capacity and the lung capacity of 1 second. Total lung capacity is represented by FEV6, and the second lung capacity is FEV1. It also gives a ratio shown as FEV1 over FEV6. The Ko Ko Peak+ measures lung capacity in liters. 

Summary
The lungs are an important part of the respiratory system. Without them our bodies would not get the oxygen we need to live. These bullet shaped organs are used for exchanging gasses, like carbon dioxide and oxygen. The lungs can get diseases such as cancer, and then the lungs don't perform this job as well. Lung capacity is a measurement of lung health. To measure lung capacity you use a Pulmonary Function Machine, which comes in many different sizes. 

Wind instruments are all the instruments that have tone produced by vibrating air. These instruments are separated into two groups, woodwind and brass. 

Burich, Raymond L. “Mouth.”

Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. Lungs. 1 1/11/03 and 11/14/03.
 http://www.encyclopedia.com/html/l1/lungs.asp 

Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. Wind Instrument. 11/20/03.
 http://www.encyclopedia.com/html/w1/windinst.asp 

Hildebrandit, Jack “Lungs.” World Book Encyclopedia. 

“Lungs and Respiration.” The Human Body: The World Book Encyclopedia of Science. 1998-1999. 

Modell, Harold I. “Lung.” World Book Encyclopedia. 1998.

The Lung Association. Respiratory System. 10/10/03. 
 http://www.lung.ca/lunghealth/