How Does Gas Exchange Work?

Gas exchange is how your body gets oxygen and sends out carbon dioxide, like a special breathing swap party inside you.

Imagine you're playing with a balloon. When you blow into it, air goes in, that's like when you breathe in. When you let the air out, that’s like when you breathe out. Inside your lungs, there are tiny little balloons called alveoli, and they work just like your toy balloon.

When you breathe in, oxygen from the air goes into these tiny balloons inside your lungs. Then it slips through a thin wall and gets into your blood, kind of like how juice soaks through a paper towel.

At the same time, your body is making carbon dioxide, which is like the air you let out when you blow on a pinwheel. This carbon dioxide moves from your blood back to the balloons in your lungs, and then you breathe it all out.

It’s like having a little helper inside you that makes sure oxygen gets where it needs to go and brings out the stuff your body doesn’t want anymore!