Respiration is the act of breathing in which the air is inhaled inside and exhaled outside of the body. Human beings inhale oxygen inside and exhale carbon dioxide by the mechanism of respiration. The main purpose of the respiratory system is to gas exchange. Through the process of respiration, oxygen enters the bloodstream and carbon dioxide is exhaled outside of the body as a product of respiration.
The gas exchange relies on the principle of diffusion and partial pressure. The partial pressure is the pressure exerted by a single type of gas among the mixture of gases. Each gas has its own partial pressure, for example, in the air, the oxygen gas would have their own partial pressure while the nitrogen gas would have their partial pressure independent of oxygen and so on. The sum of all the partial pressure of the gaseous mixture makes up total pressure. During the gas exchange, the gas diffused from higher to lower partial pressure of gas until the equilibrium reached.
In the body, gas exchange takes place at the lungs: the primary site of gas exchange where the oxygen is picked up and carbon dioxide is released. This type of respiration is referred to as external respiration as the gas exchange takes place between atmospheric air.
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