introduction to thermal physics schroeder solutions 1.21

What fraction of the particles we inhale reaches the lung's respiratory surface is a function of the particles' physical characteristics and the dynamics of the gas flow. In inhalation drug therapy, one puff of a metered-dose inhaler (MDI), for instance, contains several million particles, but only a fraction of those drug particles reach the target site in the respiratory tract. Pathogenic effects may occur if the deposited particles are not properly dealt with by the lung's defense mechanisms. A fraction of this astronomically large number of particles deposits on the lung surface. Contained within this air are somewhere between 100 billion and 10 trillion particles. The chapter concludes with a summary and a brief discussion of areas of future research.Īdult humans inhale over 10,000 liters of air per day.

Other areas, such as particle transport in the developing lung and in the diseased lung are also considered. These are: 1) the physical characteristics of particles, 2) particle behavior in gas flow, and 3) gas flow patterns in the respiratory tract. In either case, an accurate estimation of dose and sites of deposition in the respiratory tract is fundamental to understanding subsequent biological response, and the basic physics of particle motion and engineering knowledge needed to understand these subjects is the topic of this chapter.Ī large portion of this chapter deals with three fundamental areas necessary to the understanding of particle transport and deposition in the respiratory tract. Whereas the particle-lung interaction may cause deleterious effects on health if the inhaled pollutant aerosols are toxic, this interaction can be beneficial for disease treatment if the inhaled particles are therapeutic aerosolized drug. The enormously large surface area of the lung with its extremely thin air-blood barrier is exposed to particles suspended in the inhaled air. The lungs interact with the external environment through breathing. The human body interacts with the environment in many different ways.

Introduction to thermal physics schroeder solutions 1.21