Put one hand gently on your chest and the other on your tummy. Breathe in slowly, then out. What moves? Today we will build a model that shows how air gets into our lungs, and then count how breathing changes when we move.
Every breath you just took used a muscle you rarely notice. Watch this finished bottle model. Inside is a balloon like a lung. Across the base is a stretchy sheet like that muscle under your lungs.
What do you think happens to the balloon when I pull the base sheet? Watch as I pull gently, then push the sheet gently back up.
Your lungs are the soft, spongy parts in your chest that fill and empty with air. Under them is a sheet of muscle called the diaphragm (say: DY-uh-fram). When the diaphragm pulls down, space in the chest gets bigger and air goes in.
In pairs, let's finish our lung model. Your kit has the lung balloon already fixed to the lid.
Follow the five steps under Build it, one at a time. Check each picture before you go on.
Do not pull the rubber sheet yet. We will all pull it together in the next step. Keep your own balloon: no sharing.
On the class signal, pull the diaphragm sheet gently downward. What happens to the lung balloon? Now push the sheet gently back up. What happens now?
In the model we push the sheet up. In your body the diaphragm mostly relaxes and moves back up on its own. Be ready to tell the class one thing you noticed.
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