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Blood and the Breath of Oxygen from the heart and lungs working together in perfect harmony maintain life. Two itty-bitty organs weighing 1.6 kilos (2 bottles of wine) … that’s all there is!
Just two small organs, the heart and lungs – blood & oxygen. 3 billion heart beats and 16 million liters of pure oxygen perfectly coordinated to keep life in our body performing for 80 years.
We can see the outlines of the veins, heart, and lungs in the image captured by the MRI. We can also see blood transfusions being given to the car accident victim. We remember our examination of blood cells as well as the emphasis on oxygen in the body.
(Inventory of the Universe, chapter 8.2)
Red blood cells transport oxygen to our seventy-six organs, such as the heart, liver, kidneys, lungs, eyes, gall bladder, skin, pancreas, and tongue. However, the process is a bit more involved than cells wandering throughout the body!
Through our noses and mouths, we take in oxygen from the room, and the patient undergoing surgery breathes oxygen from a mask or tube. The oxygen goes into our pharynx and all the way down into the windpipe, or the trachea.
The trachea splits into the esophagus on one side, down which food travels, and the voice box or larynx (located in the trachea), which leads to the bronchial tubes and into the lungs, on the other.
It’s here that oxygen meets blood. The heart pumps this body fluid into the lungs. On the enhanced scan, we see the heart and the red blood cells, which are pale. This signifies that all the oxygen has been removed.
The red blood cells leave the heart through pulmonary arteries, which are pathways that conduct the blood cells to the lungs to be received by alveoli (tiny air sacs measuring 200 to 300 microns, or about the size of a dust mite) inside the lungs. It is here that the red blood cells receive that oxygen we are breathing.
Meanwhile, the lungs on the monitor fill and expand. Scientists believe that, with their 600 million alveoli laid out flat, these football-sized organs would cover a surface about the size of a tennis court.
Inside the lungs, which are among the largest organs in the body, the cells also transfer carbon dioxide to the alveoli. Veins supply fresh, oxygen-rich blood cells to the heart, from which they circulate throughout the body in the blood vessels.
In adults, these measure 160,000 kilometers when laid end to end. To give us an idea how far that is, when your average car reaches that many kilometers, it’s time to get a new one.
Yet it travels through our many kilometers of veins every day without our even being aware of it, and (most of the time) we have better longevity than the car! The smooth functioning of blood and oxygen is integral to our bodies. Breath (oxygen) and blood enable the body to function and move.
We ponder that these two systems, circulatory and respiratory, can be so neatly intertwined. The 200,000 to 500,000 platelets contained within each milliliter of blood flowing through our veins need a steady supply of oxygen. They protect our bodies when an injury causes an open wound. The platelets break apart, helping the blood clot and forming a scab to stop the bleeding.
Blood clotting is a good corporal function, it causes a scab to be formed helping to stop bleeding. Click To TweetThe heart beats about sixty to eighty times per minute when at rest and pumps about five liters of this body fluid in that same time period. Our hearts pump about 7,200 liters of it daily, or enough to fill fifty regular bathtubs. All of it pumping and circulation is the key to life, as we’ve observed, and each circulatory system is linked.
Our hearts pump about 7,200 liters of blood daily, or enough to fill fifty regular bathtubs ... a key to life. Click To TweetThe heart pumps this body fluid to the arteries, which conduct it to the tissues to provide oxygen and nutrients and keep the tissues healthy. The tissues exchange bodily waste for oxygen and nutrients and transmit it into the veins so that the veins can carry it back to the heart.
As one of our group members walks and breathes, Galacti notes that the acts of walking and bike riding increase proper circulation, as does swimming, which boosts oxygen flow to the heart and lungs and helps maintain a blood oxygen level of at least 95 percent (normal in adults).
We need to eat and drink water, but we cannot survive without oxygen. We think of the CO2 cycle and the plants cleansing the air and producing oxygen from carbon dioxide, which we breathe out.
Our bodies are perfectly equipped to breathe the oxygen abundant in our atmosphere as well as 'digest' the oxygen in the water we drink. Click To TweetAs we know from our examination of the water cycle, oxygen is also in our water. We ponder the fact that our bodies are equipped to breathe the oxygen abundant in our atmosphere. We also ponder the other benefit oxygen provides: our voices.
This post is an excerpt from chapter 8.2 of Inventory of the Universe.
The Explanation Blog Bonus:
Today I have a couple of videos revealing the intricate balancing act of the four chambers of the heart along with the four valves, the electrical pacemaker… all working in perfect harmony.
The continual exchange of oxygen-rich blood for oxygen-poor blood is what keeps us alive.
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