Lungs help you breathe by taking in air and getting the oxygen from it into your blood, and then getting rid of the waste gas called carbon dioxide.
Here's how it works:
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Air Enters Your Body: When you breathe in (inhale), air comes into your body through your nose or mouth.
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Down the Windpipe: The air then travels down a tube called the windpipe (trachea).
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Into the Bronchial Tubes: The windpipe splits into two smaller tubes called bronchial tubes (bronchi), one for each lung.
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Into the Lungs: The bronchial tubes lead the air into your lungs. Your lungs are like big, spongy bags.
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Tiny Air Sacs (Alveoli): Inside the lungs, the bronchial tubes branch out into even smaller tubes that end in tiny air sacs called alveoli. These are like tiny balloons.
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Oxygen Exchange: The alveoli are surrounded by tiny blood vessels. Oxygen from the air passes from the alveoli into the blood. At the same time, carbon dioxide (a waste gas) passes from the blood into the alveoli.
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Breathing Out (Exhale): When you breathe out (exhale), the carbon dioxide leaves your lungs and goes back up the bronchial tubes, through the windpipe, and out of your nose or mouth.
So, basically, your lungs are like a special air filter that takes the good air (oxygen) and puts it into your blood, and takes the bad air (carbon dioxide) and gets rid of it!
