The Respiratory System

What The Respiratory System covers

The Respiratory System is examined in Paper 1, Factors affecting participation in physical activity and sport. It covers lung volumes and minute ventilation, gas exchange, diffusion and partial pressure, control of breathing during exercise and smoking and the respiratory system.

The 4 subtopics

Each one has its own page.

• Lung volumes and minute ventilationTidal volume, inspiratory and expiratory reserve volumes, residual volume, minute ventilation with worked examples, and responses to submaximal and maximal exercise.Open →
• Gas exchange, diffusion and partial pressureDiffusion, partial pressure and diffusion gradients, gas exchange at the alveoli and at the muscles, typical partial pressures, alveolar features and the effect of training.Open →
• Control of breathing during exerciseThe respiratory control centre, extra muscles of inspiration and active expiration, carbon dioxide as the main stimulus, proprioceptors, baroreceptors and stretch receptors, and recovery.Open →
• Smoking and the respiratory systemCarbon monoxide and oxygen transport, damaged cilia, smoker's cough, bronchitis, emphysema and COPD, tar and nicotine, and effects on VO₂ max and OBLA.Open →

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Take The Respiratory System further

The same content, four other ways.

Commonly confused

Pairs that lose marks when they are blurred together.

• Tidal volume vs Residual volume

  Tidal volume: the air breathed in or out in one normal breath. Residual volume: the air left in the lungs after a maximal breath out.

• Inspiratory reserve volume vs Expiratory reserve volume

  Inspiratory reserve volume: the extra air that can be forcibly breathed in after a normal breath. Expiratory reserve volume: the extra air that can be forcibly breathed out after a normal breath.

• Diffusion vs Partial pressure

  Diffusion: the net movement of gas molecules from a high to a low concentration. Partial pressure: the share of the total gas mixture's force exerted by one gas.

Questions from this topic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

1. 1

   Define tidal volume.

   Model answer

   Tidal volume is the volume of air breathed in or out per breath. A typical resting value is about 500 ml.

2. 2

   What happens to tidal volume during exercise?

   Model answer

   Tidal volume increases during exercise. Deeper breaths draw on both the inspiratory and expiratory reserve volumes.

3. 3

   Define inspiratory reserve volume.

   Model answer

   Inspiratory reserve volume is the extra air that can be forcibly breathed in after a normal breath. A typical resting value is about 3,000 ml.

4. 4

   How does inspiratory reserve volume change during exercise, and why?

   Model answer

   Inspiratory reserve volume decreases during exercise. The larger tidal volume of each deeper breath takes up part of the reserve.

5. 5

   Define expiratory reserve volume.

   Model answer

   Expiratory reserve volume is the extra air that can be forcibly breathed out after a normal breath. A typical resting value is about 1,200 ml.

6. 6

   How does expiratory reserve volume change during exercise?

   Model answer

   Expiratory reserve volume decreases slightly during exercise. More forceful breathing out uses some of this reserve as part of the tidal volume.

What is inside Levo

Six ways to work the same material.

The Respiratory System revision questions

What does The Respiratory System cover in AQA A-Level Physical Education?

4 subtopics: lung volumes and minute ventilation, gas exchange, diffusion and partial pressure, control of breathing during exercise and smoking and the respiratory system. Each one has its own page with questions and model answers.

How is The Respiratory System organised?

By the AQA 7582 specification, subtopic by subtopic, so it matches the order you are taught it in.