Here are the answers to the class discussion questions:
1. An average adult breathes about 12 times per minute while awake or asleep, inhaling about 500 ml of air per breath.
2. The main function of our lungs is to take in oxygen needed to sustain life and rid the body of the waste product carbon dioxide.
3. The function of the epiglottis is to close during swallowing to prevent aspiration of food into the lungs.
4. Our respiratory system prevents airborne particulates from entering the lungs through physical filtration by hairs, mucus, and repeated branching of airways; and biochemical clearance using phagocytes.
5. PM2.5 particulates can travel