• Question: why do we breath only through our mouths and nose

    Asked by anon-354662 on 8 Mar 2023.
    • Photo: Bernice Ridley

      Bernice Ridley answered on 8 Mar 2023:

      In a way we don’t, we have pores all over our skin that let out water vapour. But for gas exchange, you need a large surface area of very thin epithelial cells where gases can be dissolved and transported into the blood supply. This could happen through our skin if it was very few cells thick but our skin would be too fragile and we would lose blood and fluid too quickly. Having the lungs inside with a huge internal surface area makes for much more efficient gas exchange while being protected from frictional forces. Our skin then helps homeostasis with control of temperature and water content.

    • Photo: Silvia Mazzotta

      Silvia Mazzotta answered on 8 Mar 2023:

      Unlike frogs that breathe through their skins, or salamanders that breathe though gills, we have lungs that allow us to breathe. I suppose we human can only breathe through our mouth or nose as our mouth and our nose are the only two openings in your body that are connected to your lungs and can bring air into them. Technically, our cells (the miniscule bricks that make us) also breathe, as they do something called “aerobic cellular respiration”, where in the presence of oxygen (this is what aerobic means), they can produce energy for themselves. So from now on you can say that you breathe from your mouth, your nose, and in your cells.

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