How do lungs work? - Emma Bryce

Translator: Nika Kotnik Reviewer: Klavdija Cernilogar

Many of us have hundreds of things on our minds at any moment,

Mnogi izmed nas vsak trenutek mislimo na stotine stvari,

often struggling to keep track of everything we need to do.

pogosto s težavo sledimo vsemu, kar moramo narediti.

But fortunately,

A na srečo

there's one important thing we don't have to worry about remembering:

nam za eno pomembno stvar ni treba skrbeti:

breathing.

dihanje.

When you breathe, you transport oxygen to the body's cells to keep them working

Ko dihamo, prenašamo kisik v celice telesa, da lahko delujejo

and clear your system of the carbon dioxide

in očistijo sistem ogljikovega dioksida,

that this work generates.

ki ga to delo proizvaja.

Dihanje, z drugimi besedami, ohranja telo živo.

Breathing, in other words, keeps the body alive.

So, how do we accomplish this crucial and complex task

Kako torej opravljamo to ključno in kompleksno nalogo,

without even thinking about it?

ne da bi nanjo sploh pomislili?

The answer lies in our body's respiratory system.

Odgovor leži v respiratornem sistemu našega telesa.

Like any machinery, it consists of specialized components,

Kot vsaka naprava je sestavljen iz specializiranih delov

and requires a trigger to start functioning.

in potrebuje sprožilec, da začne delovati.

Here, the components are the structures and tissues making up the lungs,

Tu so sestavni deli strukture in tkiva, ki sestavljajo pljuča,

as well as the various other respiratory organs connected to them.

kot tudi drugi respiratorni organi, povezani z njimi.

And to get this machine moving, we need the autonomic nervous system,

Da se ta naprava začne premikati, potrebujemo avtonomni živčni sistem,

our brain's unconscious control center for the vital functions.

podzavestni nadzorni center za vitalne funkcije v naših možganih.

As the body prepares to take in oxygen-rich air,

Ko se telo pripravi za sprejem s kisikom bogatega zraka,

this system sends a signal to the muscles around your lungs,

ta sistem pošlje signal mišicam okrog pljuč,

flattening the diaphragm

zravna diafragmo

and contracting the intercostal muscles between your ribs

in skrči interkostalne mišice med rebri,

to create more space for the lungs to expand.

da ustvari več prostora za razširitev pljuč.

Air then wooshes into your nose and mouth,

Nato zrak vstopi v nos in usta,

through your trachea,

gre skozi sapnik

and into the bronchi that split at the trachea's base,

in v bronhije, ki se razdelijo na bazi sapnika,

with one entering each lung.

en gre v vsako pljučno krilo.

Like tree branches, these small tubes divide into thousands of tinier passages

Kot veje drevesa se te majhne cevčice razdelijo v na tisoče majhnih prehodov,

called bronchioles.

imenovanih bronhioli.

It's tempting to think of the lungs as huge balloons,

Mikavno je gledati na na pljuča kot velike balone,

but instead of being hollow, they're actually spongy inside,

a namesto da bi bila votla, so znotraj penasta,

with the bronchioles running throughout the parenchyma tissue.

z bronhioli, ki tečejo skozi parenhimsko tkivo.

At the end of each bronchiole is a little air sack called an alveolus,

Na koncu vsakega bronhiola je mehurček zraka, imenovan alveol,

wrapped in capillaries full of red blood cells

ovit v kapilare, polne rdečih krvničk,

containing special proteins called hemoglobin.

ki vsebujejo posebno beljakovino, imenovano hemoglobin.

The air you've breathed in fills these sacks,

Zrak, ki ga vdihamo, napolni te mehurčke,

causing the lungs to inflate.

zaradi česar se pljuča razširijo.

Here is where the vital exchange occurs.

Tu se zgodi ključna izmenjava.

Na tej točki so kapilare polne ogljikovega dioksida

At this point, the capillaries are packed with carbon dioxide,

and the air sacks are full of oxygen.

in mehurčki polni kisika.

But due to the basic process of diffusion,

A zaradi osnovnega procesa difuzije

the molecules of each gas want to move to a place

se molekule vsakega plina želijo premakniti tja,

where there's a lower concentration of their kind.

kjer je njihova koncentracija nižja.

So as oxygen crosses over to the capillaries,

Tako gre kisik v kapilare,

the hemoglobin grabs it up,

hemoglobin ga pograbi,

while the carbon dioxide is unloaded into the lungs.

medtem ko se ogljikov dioksid sprosti v pljuča.

The oxygen-rich hemoglobin is then transported throughout the body

Hemoglobin, bogat s kisikom, nato potuje skozi telo

via the bloodstream.

po krvnem obtoku.

But what do our lungs do with all that carbon dioxide?

A kaj počnejo naša pljuča z vsem tem ogljikovim dioksidom?

Exhale it, of course.

Izdihajo ga, seveda.

The autonomic nervous system kicks in again,

Avtonomni živčni sistem se spet vklopi,

causing the diaphragm to ball up,

kar povzroči, da se diafragma ukrivi,

and the intercostal muscles to relax,

interkostalne mišice se sprostijo,

making the chest cavities smaller and forcing the lungs to compress.

kar naredi prsni koš manjši in prisili pljuča, da se stisnejo.

The carbon dioxide-rich air is expelled, and the cycle begins again.

Z ogljikovim dioksidom bogat zrak se izdihne in cikel se spet začne.

So that's how these spongy organs keep our bodies efficiently supplied with air.

Tako ti penasti organi učinkovito preskrbijo naše telo z zrakom.

Lungs inhale and exhale between 15 and 25 times a minute,

Pljuča vdihnejo in izdihnejo med 15- in 25-krat na minuto,

which amounts to an incredible 10,000 liters of air each day.

kar nanese 10 000 litrov zraka vsak dan.

That's a lot of work, but don't sweat it.

To je veliko dela, a ne skrbi.

Your lungs and your autonomic nervous system

Tvoja pljuča in avtonomni živčni sistem

have got it covered.

bosta poskrbela za to.