How do we breathe? Here are five great respiratory system facts for kids.
The respiratory system connects together lots of very important parts of the body which let us breathe and talk. The parts that make up the respiratory system are:
The Nose and Mouth, which take in air. The Throat, Windpipe, and Airways which transport air through the body. The Voice box which lets us make noise to speak and the Lungs which bring oxygen into the bloodstream.
Your nose is a super important part of the respiratory system and it does a few very important jobs. The little hairs in your nose, called cilia, catch pollen, dust, and other germs that you breathe in so they don’t get into your lungs. The nose also has little structures called turbinates which help catch germs from being breathed into your lungs.
The turbinates also heats up or cools down the air you breathe in to make it the perfect temperature for your lungs.
The voice box is also called the larynx and it is how we speak. The larynx has muscle tissue that spreads across it on both sides. When air passes through the gap it can create sounds through vibrations which the mouth shapes into words. Every person who speaks a different language makes the shapes of the words differently in their mouth. This makes each language sound very different. Just like air travelling through a wind instrument to create different sounds the voice box works the same way. So, you are your own instrument.
If you want to feel the vibrations of the voice box which create noise you can place your hand at your throat while you hum. Try it for yourself!
Once the air travels down the throat it goes through airways called bronchioles to reach the lungs. The lungs are separated into different nodes which all do the same job. The bronchiole isn’t just one tube and it splits into many branches. These branches look just like the branches of a tree.
There are many reasons why we yawn and one of the most interesting reason is that the brain wants us to take in more air. When we yawn it brings fresh air into our body, this brings more air to the brain. This can help energise the brain and make you feel more awake especially if you take in colder air. Yawns are also contagious so when you see someone else yawn you feel like yawning too. This is because we empathise with the need to yawn. Even dogs can catch yawns from people.
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