Stage 6 ScienceEnglish Member

The Breath Machine

Science fiction · Teaches: The respiratory system (breathing and gas exchange) · Featuring Tryphonia

The S.S. Corpuscle was tiny again, but this time Tryphonia sailed a river of air, not blood. “Welcome to the respiratory system (the breathing system),” crackled Grace’s radio.

Tryphonia rushed down the windpipe (the trachea, the main air tube), which split into two branches called bronchi (BRON-kye), one leading to each lung.

The branches divided again and again, thinner and thinner, until Tryphonia reached millions of tiny air sacs called alveoli (al-VEE-oh-lie). “They look like bunches of grapes,” she radioed.

Explore in 3D

Follow the air Tryphonia rode, down the windpipe, into the two lungs, out to the tiny air sacs. Spin the lungs to see the branching airways.

Realistic Human Lungs by neshallads on Sketchfab · CC Attribution

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This story teaches

The respiratory system (breathing and gas exchange)

ScienceEnglish

Answer guide, for grown-ups

Ask each question, then compare. A child’s own words are perfect as long as the idea is right.

1. Trace the air’s path from the mouth to the alveoli.

The air goes down the windpipe (trachea), into the two bronchi (one to each lung), then through smaller and smaller branches until it reaches the tiny air sacs called alveoli.

✓ Understood if the child orders windpipe, bronchi, smaller branches, then alveoli.

2. Which gas do we take in, and which do we breathe out?

We take in oxygen and breathe out carbon dioxide.

✓ Understood if the child says oxygen in, carbon dioxide out.

3. What is the job of the diaphragm?

The diaphragm is the dome-shaped muscle that pulls down to draw air in and pushes up to squeeze it out, powering our breathing.

✓ Understood if the child says it moves to pull air in and push it out.

4. This is a sequel to “Voyage on the Red River”, how are the lungs and blood connected?

In the alveoli, oxygen passes from the air into the blood and carbon dioxide passes out, so the blood collects fresh oxygen at the lungs before travelling round the body.

✓ Understood if the child links lungs and blood by oxygen passing into the blood and carbon dioxide out at the air sacs.

Maths Moment: About 15 breaths a minute, so 15 x 10 = 150 breaths in 10 minutes, and 15 x 60 = 900 breaths in an hour.

For parents, Cambridge curriculum

Mapped to these Cambridge Primary objectives. Open a framework to verify.

Science

Stage 6 · Biology
Describe the human respiratory system and gas exchange in the lungs.
Verify in Cambridge Science (0097) ↗

English

Stage 6 · Reading
Recognise features of science-fiction writing.
Verify in Cambridge English (0058) ↗