Complete 6 pages APA formatted article: The Anatomy of the Lungs
To better understand the physiology of the airway and its system, it is encouraged to know the anatomy first. .
The Right and the Left Lungs. Normally, the human body has a pair of lungs floating freely inside the pleural cavity which is made up of epithelial membranes forming the pleura. The one which is faced to the lungs is the visceral pleura and the outer is called the parietal pleura. The lungs are contained inside the thoracic cavity and are situated beside each other. thus, the right and the left. They are divided by the mediastinum. Although they are basically and supposedly aren’t connected with any other part in the cavity, they are technically attached to it by its root and the ligamentum pulmonale. When held, the lung would feel “light, soft, and spongy in texture” and can float when placed in a container with water (Cunningham & Robinson, 1918, p. 1091). According to the authors, the color of the lungs is dependent on the age of a person. It appears rosy-pink in its early years and is darker in adults. This is due to the exposure levels of the lungs to dust and other impurities.
The Lungs and Its Form. The form of the lungs is essentially the result of the structure of the thoracic cavity. As the airways seem to represent an inverted tree, the individual lungs are like inverted cones with the tip of the lung in the superior part and the wider part as its inferior and forming its base. The tip is called the apex and the flat surface is the base. The right lung is slightly larger than the left and is, at the same time, bulkier (Gutman, 2009, p. 77). According to Cunningham and Robinson (1918), the location of the liver below the right lung contributes to this (p. 1091) along with the presence of the flat diaphragm underneath both of them. This then forms the diaphragmatic surface of the lungs which is characteristically hallowed. In addition, the left lung is compressed due to the position of the heart inside the cavity.
