How do our lungs get rid of all the dust we inhale?!
Question: Everyday, we breathe in a lot of dust from our surroundings. The dust includes the dust blown by the winds, particulate matter from vehicles and industries, ... and women also breathe in makeup powder. Some of that dust reaches deep in our lungs. Given the quantity of dust we breathe in during our lifetime, our lungs should be totally coated with dust. However, that is not the case.
How do our lungs manage to remove all of the dust? We don't seem to cough enough to get rid of all the dust. Where does all that dust go?
Answers: Everyday, we breathe in a lot of dust from our surroundings. The dust includes the dust blown by the winds, particulate matter from vehicles and industries, ... and women also breathe in makeup powder. Some of that dust reaches deep in our lungs. Given the quantity of dust we breathe in during our lifetime, our lungs should be totally coated with dust. However, that is not the case.
How do our lungs manage to remove all of the dust? We don't seem to cough enough to get rid of all the dust. Where does all that dust go?
When an irritant such as dust is inhaled... the respiratory tract which has a mucous membrane lining will secrete substances which the dust will settle into and stick to...
Mucous is the common term for this substance when it is in the Upper respiratory tract. The Mucous will eventually be swept away as post nasal dripping, into the oropharynx (back of the throat) and will be swallowed throughout the day along with saliva, food, and drinks that we consume. Our GI tract will then expell it with our waste in the bowel movements.
Sputum is the common term for the substance whe it is in the lower bronchial tree and lungs. Our bronchial tree has fine hairs the help sweep things along. We are also equiped with a cough reflex. So as we cough, this sputum from the deeper portion of our respiratory tract will be brought forth to the oropharynx (back of throat) where it will be swallowed involuntarily. We do this without even thinking about it. We never taste it because it does not reach the tongue.
Good Luck
Nurse Angie
As you know we inhale and exhale, so i suppose the dust that doesn't get inside the blood cycle just goes out of the system the same way it went in.
The coughing really does do it. Although we don't cough a lot the actualy speed of air being expelled from the lungs when we do cough is of such a velocity that it does indeed tend to get rid of any dust and grime that we inhale. It's actualy things like vehicle fumes we can't get rid of too well.
i would think through your nose it acts as a filter we breath in then our nose filter our air thats breath in and we clean our nose of any debris. and we cough and clear our lungs