What happens to all the stuff we breath into our lungs? (like dust etc.)?

Question

Theres always dust and crap floating around and I was just wondering what happens to all the stuff in the air that we breath into our lungs.

Answer 1

It gets stuck in our lungs initially. However the surface of our lungs produces a sticky substance called mucous which takes that dust out of your lungs and then into your stomach when you swallow. Sometimes you can feel that mucous when you cough. Other times you hardly notice it. That dust comes out in your crap eventually of course.
Your body's self cleaning mechanism is relatively slow. For example it can take a smoker ten years or more after they've quit to get lungs that look like those of a typical non-smoker.

Answer 2

The lining cells of the airways (bronchioles, bronchi, and sinuses) have small microscopic hair-like projections called cilia. These cilia have one function, to sweep toward the mouth. The surface of the airway has a thin layer of mucus and this muco-ciliary clearance helps keep the lungs clean. Some dust does stay trapped in the lungs and is taken up by macrophages (cells which eat debris).

Damage or stunning of the cilia occurs with smoking and with infections, so smokers tend to accumulate more dust in their lungs (the cilia "wake up" after a few hours of not smoking, resulting in the classic "morning cough").

You can divide the likely endpoints of dust according to size. Dust particles larger than 10 micron diameter get stuck on the airway and get swept up toward the mouth, swallowed or coughed back out. Dust particles smaller than 2 microns tend to just get blown back out when we exhale. Stuff in between those two can get into the alveoli (air sacs of the lungs), but tends to get coughed up to the airways and swept out by the cilia.

Certain dusts are worse than others - asbestos, silica from sandblasting - and these can cause extensive scarring of the lungs.

Answer 3

Dust and crap that is floating around in the air can be harmful to us when we breathe it in. It gets caught in our lungs and causes diseases. The more we are exposed the more we are at risk.

Answer 4

Our lungs do a great job at filtering out dust, etc. Yet, constant exposure in excess is not healthy. You can end up developing lung diseases such as asthma, etc.

Answer 5

The hairs in your nose and there is a section in your throat that has hairs and they catch some of the dust particles not all of them but some.

Answer 6

wear a dust mask