Circulation and Gas Exchange Review
1. What purpose is served by the respiratory system?
2. Why is the respiratory surface for terrestrial organisms inside rather than outside the body?
3. How does the human respiratory system achieve a large surface area?
4. Explain the process of breathing.
5. How does the brain monitor the need for oxygen?
6. How is breathing rate set?
7. How is oxygen carried in the blood?
8. What are the cause and symptoms of anemia?
9. Outline the effects of smoking on the respiratory system.
10. Why do large, multicellular animals require a circulatory system?
11. Distinguish between systemic and pulmonary circulation.
12. Describe the differences between arteries and veins.
13. Describe capillaries.
14. What function do capillaries serve?
15. What causes a pulse?
16. What is an aneurysm?
Why are they dangerous?17. What is the function of the pulmonary and aortic semilunar valves?
18. Blood pressure in veins is much lower than that in arteries. Explain how this is overcome to ensure blood is returned to the heart.
19. It is not unheard of for soldiers to faint while standing at attention for a long period of time. Explain.
20. Using examples, explain the purpose served by vasoconstriction and vasodilation.
21. You visit the doctor and have your blood pressure measured. It is 150/110. Is this high?
Why might the doctor be more concerned with diastolic pressure than with your systolic pressure.22. What is the function of the pacemaker and why is it necessary?
23. How can the basic heart rate set by the pacemaker be modified?
24. What are the two basic causes of heart attacks?
25. What is a coronary bypass operation and why would one be performed?
26. Explain why the ventricles have thicker walls than the atria.
27. Why does the left ventricle have thicker walls than the right?
28. What is the only artery in the body that carries deoxygenated blood?
29. Why is this artery an exception?
30. Describe the disease atherosclerosis and explain how it can result in high blood pressure.
31. What is the relationship between diet and heart disease?
32. What is the adaptive value of the fact that arteries are usually located far below the surface of the skin?
33. Occasionally, a child is born with an opening in the wall between the right and left ventricles. Explain how such a defect might affect the child?
34. Explain how starvation conditions can lead to edema.
35. Imagine that you are a doctor and that you have diagnosed one of your patients as having high blood pressure. You prescribe a low salt diet. Why?
36. Imagine now that you became bored with the mundane life of a family physician and decided to become an Emergency Medicine Technician. At the scene of a car accident, a victim has lost a great deal of blood and is going into shock. The symptoms you observe are weak and rapid pulse, and falling body temperature. Explain.
37. Define cardiac output, stroke volume, and heart rate.
38. Describe the features of RBC.
39. What are the differences between RBC and WBC?
40. What is the function of platelets?