GASEOUS

EXCHANGE
GASEOUS EXCHANGE
 Gas exchange is a process that occurs when oxygen and carbon dioxide diffuse across a
surface or membrane in opposite directions.
 Gas exchange is needed to provide cells with enough oxygen for cellular respiration, and to
remove the carbon dioxide that the cells produce
 The surface to volume ratio of an organism is important. The surface area indicates how much
oxygen the organism can absorb through its surface and the volume is an indication of how
much oxygen will be needed by the organism.
 Smaller organisms and unicellular organisms have a larger surface area in comparison to their
volume.
 Larger organisms have a smaller surface area than volume so they do not absorb enough
oxygen through their surface. Therefore there are modified in other ways to absorb oxygen.
 The majority of animals need oxygen in order to oxidize the organic materials and produce
energy for cellular activities.
 The oxidation of the food not only yields energy but also carbon dioxide which must be
constantly removed from the body.
 The process of moving oxygen into the body and carbon dioxide out of the body is called
breathing in or ventilation. Gaseous exchange involves the passage of carbon dioxide through
a respiratory surface.
 Diffusion is the main transport process involved in gaseous exchange.
CHARACTERISTICS OF THE
RESPIRATORY SURFACES
1. They have a large surface area in order to increase the rate of diffusion
2. They are usually thin and permeable in order to reduce the resistance to
diffusion
3. They are moist to dissolve the gases
4. They are well supplied with blood.
5. Types of respiratory surfaces in animals
 Small animals such as amoeba use their entire body surface for gaseous exchange. They have a high
surface area /volume ratio.
 As organisms increase in size, the surface area/volume ratio decreases, hence there is need to have
special respiratory system or organs.
REQUIREMENTS FOR
EFFICIENT GASEOUS
EXCHANGE
Requirement Why it is important

 Surface are of the of the gas exchange  Allow sufficient oxygen to diffuse in and
organ must be large sufficient carbon dioxide to diffuse out
 Surface area must be moist  To prevent desiccation of the gas exchange
tissues
 Surface must be thin
 To allow for rapid diffusion of gases across
 A transport system must be available it
 An adequate ventilating mechanism must  To transport the gases to and from the gas
be present exchange surfaces
 The gas exchange surface must be  To ensure that oxygen-laden air is brought
protected in and carbon dioxide-laden air is driven out
 Because the gas exchange system is thin
and delicate
GASEOUS EXCHANGE IN AN
EARTHWORM
 The earthworm lives in moist soil and does not need special organs for gaseous exchange.
 The long cylindrical body of the earthworm has a large surface area to volume ratio and the
gas diffuses through the permeable body surface.
 There is a network of blood capillaries below the surface. Blood transports the gases through
the body.
GASEOUS EXCHANGE IN A
LOCUST
 The body surface of the locust is impermeable to water and gases.
 A branched network of tubes (tracheae) makes up the gas exchange system.
 The openings of the tubes are called spiracles and air passes through them into the tracheoles
(small tubes) that end amongst the body tissues.
 Gases pass across the moist lining to the body cells and back without blood transport.
 Air flow is controlled by the opening and closing of spiracles and the rhythmic body
movement to get air into and out of the trachea.
GASEOUS EXCHANGE IN
BONY FISH
 It is difficult to get oxygen out of water because diffusion occurs more slowly.
 Bony fish have specially adapted body parts called gills which are protected by a bony covering
called an operculum.
 Each gill is made up of two rows of filaments which are made up of thin, flat plates called
lamellae.
 The lamellae have a rich supply of blood capillaries. The flat plates increase the surface area.
 Water flows over the lamellae in the opposite direction to blood flow. This means that when the
water flows over the lamellae it has a higher concentration of oxygen than the blood flowing in
the other direction.
 Blood transports the gases to the rest of the body.
 The fish continuously pumps water through their mouths and over their gills by moving their
jaws and opercula.
DIFFUSION OF GASES
THROUGH GASES
 When gases are diffusing through other gases (such as in the alveoli), their rate of diffusion
can be defined by Graham’s Law:
 “The rate of diffusion is inversely proportional to the square root of its molar mass at
identical pressure and temperature”
 In other words, the smaller the mass of a gas, the more rapidly it will diffuse.
DIFFUSION OF GASES
THROUGH LIQUIDS
 When gases are diffusing through liquids, for example across the alveolar membrane and into
capillary blood, the solubility of the gases is important. The more soluble a gas is,
the faster it will diffuse.
 The solubility of a gas is defined by Henry’s law, which states that:
 “The amount of dissolved gas in a liquid is proportional to its partial pressure above the
liquid”.
 If we assume that the conditions of temperature and pressure for all gases remain fixed (as
they roughly do in the alveoli) then it is the inherent differences between different gases that
determine their solubility.
 Carbon dioxide is inherently more soluble than oxygen, and thus diffuses much faster than
oxygen into liquid.
FICK’S LAW
 Fick’s law gives us a number of factors that affect the diffusion rate of a gas through
fluid:
 The partial pressure difference across the diffusion barrier.

 The solubility of the gas.

 The cross-sectional area of the fluid.

 The distance molecules need to diffuse.

 The molecular weight of the gas.

 The temperature of the fluid – not important within the lungs and can be assumed to
be 37oC.
 In the lungs, whilst oxygen is smaller than carbon dioxide, the difference in
solubility means that carbon dioxide diffuses roughly 20 times faster than
oxygen.
 This difference between the rate of diffusion of the individual molecules is
compensated for by the large difference in partial pressures of oxygen,
creating a larger diffusion gradient than that of carbon dioxide.
 However, this means that in disease states which impair the ability of the lungs
to adequately ventilate with oxygen, oxygen exchange is often
compromised before that of carbon dioxide.
DIFFUSION BARRIER
 The diffusion barrier in the lungs consists of the following layers:
 Alveolar epithelium
 Tissue fluid
 Capillary endothelium
 Plasma
 Red cell membrane