• Question: Why do we have a rib cage?

    Asked by neelofar to Joe, Juan, Rosie on 10 Mar 2014. This question was also asked by laviniao, ibrahimn, shannonh.
    • Photo: Rosie Coates

      Rosie Coates answered on 10 Mar 2014:

      There are several reasons we have a rib cage, a very important one is protection.

      As we all know we need to breathe to live. When we breathe in we take air into our very delicate lungs that is made of around 20% oxygen. Our lungs are very well supplied with blood that has very little oxygen in it. Because of this the oxygen from the air we breathe in can move into our blood in a process called diffusion. The blood then carries the oxygen around the body to all of our cells where we use it to release stored energy in a process called respiration. We need this energy to do everything from blinking to thinking!

      Our lungs are essential for us to take in the oxygen we need to release energy through respiration. Without them our heart wouldn’t be able to beat and our brains would stop working. Since they are so important they have their own body guards- our ribs. If we didn’t have ribs our all important lungs would be exposed to danger every time we walk down the street or play football.

      Can anyone think of any other reasons a rib cage might be useful? (hint- it has to do with air moving in and out of the lungs…)

    • Photo: Joe Sweeney

      Joe Sweeney answered on 10 Mar 2014:

      To protect our lungs and help them work: if it wasn’t for ribs, every time we breathed out we wouldn’t be able to breathe in. The ribs provide a canopy to enable the lungs to move in and out. There are others reasons, but I don’t know enough about it to say.
      Great question.

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