And now it's time for Who's Smarted.
Smarty Pants, guess what?
Today is Chet Nickerson's birthday.
I'm going to surprise him by tying a gigantic happy birthday balloon to his Chet Chopper.
I'll make sure it's all first.
Anyway, I just need to blow up this balloon.
Ah, oh, wow. This is harder than I thought.
Maybe I should have bought a smaller balloon, or one that was already inflated.
Excuse me, are you the trusty narrator?
Well, yes. Yes, I am.
And you are? I'm Betsy balloon.
Do you know you're using your lungs to inflate me?
Uh, yes, I do know that.
Although I got to say, I don't think my lungs are quite up to the task.
They've already gotten quite a workout, and you aren't even halfway inflated.
Make that not inflated at all.
Aw, don't feel deflated, trusty.
The good thing about lungs is you can just take in more air and try again.
Go ahead, take a deep breath.
You can do it. OK, here goes.
Woo hoo, you did. So close -ish.
OK, so maybe blowing up balloons isn't my thing, but teaching smarty pants about cool stuff is.
And since you mentioned lungs, let's listen and learn lots of legendary lung lore.
Like, what exactly are your lungs?
How do they work? And are your two lungs exactly the same?
Get ready to hold your collective breaths as we let loose another big whiff of science and history on Who's smarted?
Who's smarted? Who's smart?
Is it you? Is it me?
Is it science or history?
Listen up. Everyone, we make smarting lots of fun on who's smarted.
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Maybe you should rest your lungs for a minute before you try again.
Good idea. Or better yet, I'll use them for something I know I'm good at, talking.
Smarty pants, you probably know your lungs are like two large bags in your body.
The first question is a relatively easy one.
Where in your body are they located?
Are they in your chest, your stomach, or your head?
If you said your chest, nice job.
Your lungs are inside your chest cavity or thorax on either side of your heart and protected by your rib bones.
Here's the next question that sounds easy but is more involved than you might think.
What do your lungs actually do?
Your lungs bring oxygen into your body while taking waste gases out of your bloodstream.
Waste gases? You mean like?
No, that's your digestive system's job.
The lungs are part of the respiratory system.
These waste gases are?
Are what, smarty pants?
If you inhale oxygen, what gas do you exhale?
Is it carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, or hydrogen peroxide?
The answer is carbon dioxide.
Excellent job if you got that right, smarties.
Yep, and that's what balloons like me are filled with when you're actually able to blow me up.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'll get it eventually.
But first, the next question.
This one's even trickier.
Smarty pants, true or false?
One of your two lungs breathes in oxygen while the other breathes out carbon dioxide.
Ooh, ooh, I know, I know, pick me, pick me.
Wow, Betty, you look like you're about to burst and you're not even blown up yet.
So go ahead, tell us the answer.
The answer is false.
Both your lungs do everything together.
I see, so are your two lungs exactly the same?
What do you think, smarty pants?
The answer is? Not exactly.
Your left lung is typically a little smaller than your right lung because it has to share space in your chest with a very important organ.
Smarty pants, do you know what it is?
Here's a hint. That's right, your heart.
There's only so much room inside a human body and there's lots of things going on at all times.
Your heart and left lung are like roommates.
Okay, so we know where your lungs are and what they do, but smarty pants, what do your lungs look like, Betsy?
Well, on the outside, your lungs are pink, spongy, and squishy.
That description reminds me of something.
Right, meat cake is also pink, spongy, and squishy, and even more unappetizing now.
Lung tissue is spongy and made up of many tiny sacks filled with air, but the inside of your lungs might make you think of a different food.
Smarty pants, what food do you think the inside of your lungs looks like?
Is it pizza, broccoli, or hot dogs?
I hope it's pizza. Sorry, trusty, but the inside of your lungs looks more like broccoli than pizza.
Oh well, are the inside of your lungs green like broccoli too?
No, it's more like pink broccoli.
Lungs have little branches called bronchioles on the inside and it's these bronchioles that look like pink broccoli.
Each bronchioles stems from a bigger bronchus that splits off from your trachea or windpipe.
Wow, meat cake on the outside, pink broccoli on the inside.
Smarty pants, who knew?
So how does all that pink broccoli help you breathe?
When you breathe, air enters your body through your nose or mouth.
Then the oxygen goes in your trachea before branching out into each bronchus.
From there, it goes through all of the bronchioles stems, which lead to alveoli.
I see. Smarty pants, what are alveoli?
Are they A, a type of pasta, B, a type of gas, or C, a group of small air bags?
If you said A, you're thinking of ravioli, but the answer is actually C, a group of small air bags.
At the end of each bronchioles stem are alveoli, which are covered in a web of really thin blood vessels called capillaries.
Any guess how many alveoli you have?
What do you think, Smarty pants?
Let's say 100. Try 300 to 600 million.
Whoa. Those hundreds of millions of alveoli help oxygen get into your blood.
Wow, that's a lot of alveoli.
I'm guessing they're pretty small if you can fit 600 million inside of you.
They're about 0 .0007 centimeters in diameter, but they're all packed in.
If you spread them out, they could cover nearly an entire tennis court.
Wow. And every time you breathe, all those alveoli fill up with air and your lungs grow.
And this happens a lot.
An average six to 12 year old takes 18 to 30 breaths a minute, while a typical adult reads in 2000 gallons in one day.
A person who lives to be 80 years old will take over 500 million breaths in their lifetime.
And 80 of those will be for blowing out birthday candles.
And here's another crazy fact, Trusty.
If you took all of the airways inside your lungs and strung them out from end to end, they would stretch for 1 ,500 miles, or 2 ,414 kilometers.
Really? That's like driving more than halfway across the United States.
Obviously, your lungs are super important.
Do you know why? Smarty pants, what do you think?
Did you say, because humans need to breathe in order to survive?
That's right. And do we ever take a break from breathing?
Nope, humans are always breathing, even when they're asleep.
Breathing is an involuntary action, which means you don't need to think about doing it.
However, have you stopped to think about what exactly you are breathing?
Air is a mixture of gases that are all around us.
Even though we can't see air, we know that it is all around us.
Gases? Unh, believe me.
I definitely know when that's around.
Well, that smell of gas can enter your nose.
I was mostly talking about oxygen and carbon dioxide.
Oh, of course. Smarty pants, do plants produce carbon dioxide or oxygen?
Go ahead, shout it out.
If you said that plants produce oxygen, nice.
Plants take in carbon dioxide and send oxygen out.
What about humans? What do humans do with these gases?
For humans, it's just the opposite.
You take in oxygen and give off carbon dioxide.
And this taking in of oxygen and giving off carbon dioxide is called respiration.
Which is a fancy word for breathing.
But here's the thing, air takes a pretty impressive trip through your body and you'll hear all about it right after this quick break.
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Now back to Who Smarted.
Shh. Shh. You're definitely getting closer, trusty.
Great. Anyway, where was I?
Oh, right, air's journey through your body.
For many people, it starts with air entering your nose, which is full of tiny waving hairs that trap dust or bacteria.
Or in some cases, you might breathe through your mouth.
Either way, the air makes its way down your trachea or windpipe, which is different than your esophagus where food goes down.
Your trachea branches off into two bronchial tubes.
Why two bronchial tubes?
Well, what else do you have two of, smarty pants?
Why, of course, lungs.
The two bronchial tubes act as tunnels leading to one of your two lungs.
The right lung is divided into three parts or lobes and the smaller left lung is divided into two parts or lobes.
All your lobes have the same job or function, bringing oxygen into your bloodstream and removing carbon dioxide.
And then what happens when the oxygen reaches your bloodstream?
As your blood circulates through your body, it carries oxygen to your cells, which releases the energy you need to stay alive.
And on one special day a year, blow out a birthday candle.
And your lungs do this all by themselves?
Actually, they get some help from their roommate.
Your hardened lungs actually work together.
Oh yeah, how so? The right side of your heart gets blood from the body and sends it to the lungs to pick up oxygen.
The left side of your heart gets blood from your lungs and sends it into your body.
This is known as your respiratory system.
Amazing, I do need to ask, what's going on inside people who have problems with the respiratory system?
Some people may have difficulty breathing because they have asthma.
Asthma can be caused by allergies to pollen, dust or skin flakes.
It makes the airways in the lungs narrow so breathing becomes difficult.
Asthma can be treated using an inhaler to help widen the airways.
The inhaler gets medicine into your lungs to help make breathing easier.
Wow, for something I do all day, every day, I had no idea there was so much involved in breathing.
Now that I know more about my lungs, I'm ready to try and inflate you again.
Go for it, trusty, I believe in you.
Not gonna happen. Oh hey trusty, need a little help with that balloon?
There, now we'll just tie a little knot.
Ah, here we go, they used to call me old windbag back in college.
Ha ha ha, hey wait a second, this balloon is for me.
Aw thanks trusty, you remembered.
Happy birthday, Chet.
A big, big shout out to super fan Levi in St.
Mary's, Georgia. We're so happy you and your family love smarting along to Who's Smarting and we're super excited to have you all as part of our smarty family.
Thanks Levi. This episode, Lungs, was written by Sarah, short of Breath Sweetik and voiced by Sarah Sweetik, Adam, Deep Breath Davis and Jerry Colbert.
Technical direction and sound design by Josh, hold your breath Han.
Who's Smarted is recorded and mixed at the Relic Room Studios.
Our associate producer is Max, cough cough, Kamaski.
The theme song is by Brian, Big Breath Suarez with lyrics written and performed by Adam Text Davis.
Who's Smarted was created and produced by Adam Text Davis and Jerry Colbert.
This has been an Atomic Entertainment production.
Who's Smarted. Star glow.
