Lung Anatomy Practice Problems

Get at least 5 correct to understand the concept!

1. Akhil is watching a movie while eating. He accidentally starts laughing while eating, and the popcorn goes into his windpipe. Assuming it goes into one of his lungs, which lung has a higher probability of having the popcorn fall in it?


2. What are two additional names for the Adam's Apple?


3. What are the three ways to get non-viral pneumonia?


4. Which way should you breathe in to get cleaner air into your lungs?
   A. Mouth
   B. Nose
   C. None of the above; both give the same results


5. Where does gas exchange take place?


6. How many cells wide is the wall of an alveolus?
   A. 1 cell
   B. 100 cells
   C. 10,000 cells
   D. 1,000,000 cells

Lung Anatomy Practice Solutions

1. Remember that the trachea is steep when it goes into the right lung, while it is less steep as it goes into the left lung. Therefore, if something goes into the trachea, it will certainly be more likely to end up in the right lung than the left lung.


2. The Adam's Apple is also known as the voice box or larynx.


3. Pnuemonia is a lung disease in the alveolus. To get the disease, you must get something (like infection or vomit) in your alveolus, which limits gas exchange. This can only happen when one of the following things happens: you get the disease by catching it from someone (for instance, when someone coughs - this is community-acquired pneumonia), when you breathe it in through a ventilator (when you are using a contaminated ventilator to breathe, the infection can get into your alveoli, causing pneumonia - this is called ventilator-acquired pneumonia), or when you get stuff from your stomach into your alveoli - this is called aspiration-acuired pneumonia. Aspiration-acquired pneumonia can happen when you accidentally vomit, and the vomit goes into your larynx, trachea, and lungs. This is possible because, as vomit goes up and gravity pulls it down, the vomit might fall through your larynx and eventually into your alveoli. Our answer, therefore, to the question is: The three ways you can get pneumonia are through ventilator-acquired pneumonia, community-acquired pneumonia, and aspiration-acquired pneumonia.


4. Breathing in through your nose cleans and filters the air because nose hairs and mucus serve as powerful filters. Meanwhile, breathing in from the mouth is much worse. First, there are no real filters. Second, particles of food can also be breathed in, and that can lead to aspiration-acquired pneumonia. Therefore, the answer B. Nose is correct.


5. Gas exchange is the process where oxygen, which you breathe in, is sent into your circulatory system, while carbon dioxide, a waste product from your circulatory system, is exhaled through the respiratory system. This process takes place in the alveoli.


6. As mentioned here, the wall of an alveolus is A. 1 cell thick.