why do lungs fill up with water?
151172
Lungs fill with fluid as a consquence of many reasons.  One such biological reason can include decreased surfactant production by Type II pneumocytes in the lung.  This would result in an increase in the surface tension of fluid lining the alveolar endothelium.  The increase in surface tension of this fluid would pull the alveolus closed and could even eventually collapse it.
412606
I'm not sure, all the answers make sense, I thought maybe the fluids and gases in our bodies kept us afloat for a while then once dead the fluids and gases escape and the body sinks until it bloats and then rises again
417764
It's a question of the relative amounts of muscle and fat, together with the density of your bones. Basically, if your overall body density (mass/volume) is >1 you will sink, if it's <1 you will float.\n\nThe air in your lungs *does* make a difference, since taking a deep breath both expands your volume, and increases the amount of low-density stuff in that volume. If I have a lungful of air, I can just about float; breathe out, and I sink.
590266
fresh water is hypotinc, so it gets drawn into the pulmonary circulation, leading to haemodilution, hyponatraemia and even haemolysis. while hypertonic salt water, drains water out of the pulmonary circulation, to the alveoli, leading to pulmonary oedema.
868202
I float in a fresh water pool, don't you?  My head is not above water, but if my lungs are full of air I do not sink.  If I empty my lungs then I will sink.  What is your question?
89686
What the hell kinda question is that??? What would you want to do that for??? Well your answer is no, if you asperate it into your lungs, most likely your lungs will fill with fluid and you will die.
1134763
I would venture to guess that it is because your tubes in your lungs get smaller when you are cold.  This forces whatever mucus in your lungs be more in the way of your breathing, so you have to cough.
159124
Fluid in lungs is pulmonary edema.  The doctor probably heard "rales" at the base of his lungs, which didn't clear when he coughed, like it might if it was just some mucus in airways.  This is usually due to some heart failure, ie. left sided heart failure.  She gave him a shot of Lasix, most likely, which is a strong diuretic to make him urinate off excess fluid.  Heart failure causes dyspnea (shortness of breath) on exertion and orthopnea (shortness of breath in supine position) and PND = paroxysmal nocturnal dyspnea (episodes of waking up coughing and short of breath, after they get up and get some fresh air, they usually get better).  Coughing, esp. in bed, can be a symptom too.  The ultimate cause of heart failure can be too many or one too big of a heart attack with resultant loss of heart muscle, it can be a bad heart valve which can be noticed by murmur on exam or by echocardiogram or cardiac cath, can be caused by hypothyroidism (low thyroid), can be caused by high blood pressure, rarely can be caused by lack of vitamin B1 (wet beri beri), can be a result of a viral myocarditis (a viral heart infection), or can be caused by cardiomyopathy (usually idiopathic, meaning we just don't know why).  The heart is usually somewhat enlarged on Chest xray and echocardiogram may show heart enlargement as well.  Need to make sure he doesn't have any of these treatable causes.  Best to see a cardiologist.
181662
I usually fill my lungs right up, and hold it in as long as i can. If your lungs are full, you can't hic up.
1090299
Lung\nFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia\n\nThe lungs flank the heart and great vessels in the chest cavity. (Source: Gray's Anatomy of the Human Body, 20th ed. 1918.)\n\nThe lungs flank the heart and great vessels in the chest cavity. (Source: Gray's Anatomy of the Human Body, 20th ed. 1918.)\nAir enters and leaves the lungs via a conduit of cartilaginuous passageways — the bronchi and bronchioles. In this image, lung tissue has been dissected away to reveal the bronchioles. (Source: Gray's Anatomy of the Human Body, 20th ed. 1918.)\n\nAir enters and leaves the lungs via a conduit of cartilaginuous passageways — the bronchi and bronchioles. In this image, lung tissue has been dissected away to reveal the bronchioles. (Source: Gray's Anatomy of the Human Body, 20th ed. 1918.)\n\nThe lung is the essential organ of respiration in air-breathing vertebrates. Its principal function is to transport oxygen from the atmosphere into the bloodstream, and to excrete carbon dioxide from the bloodstream into the atmosphere. This it accomplishes with the mosaic of specialized cells that form millions of tiny, exceptionally thin-walled air sacs where gas exchange takes place. Lungs also have nonrespiratory functions.\n\nMedical terms related to the lung often begin with pulmo-, from the Latin pulmonarius ("of the lungs"), cognate with the Greek pleumon ("lung").\n\nRespiratory function\n\nEnergy production from aerobic respiration often requires oxygen and produces carbon dioxide as a by-product, creating a need for an efficient means of oxygen delivery to cells and carbon dioxide excretion from cells. In smaller organisms, such as single-celled bacteria, this process of gas exchange can take place entirely by simple diffusion. In larger organisms, this is not possible; only a small proportion of cells are close enough to the surface for oxygen from the atmosphere to enter them through diffusion. Two major adaptations made it possible for organisms to attain great multicellularity: an efficient circulatory system that conveyed gases to and from the deepest tissues in the body, and a large, internalised respiratory system that centralized the task of obtaining oxygen from the atmosphere and bringing it into the body, whence it could rapidly be distributed to all tissues via the circulatory system.\n\nIn air-breathing vertebrates, respiration occurs in a series of steps. Air is brought into the animal via the airways — in reptiles, birds and mammals this often consists of the nose; the pharynx; the larynx; the trachea; the bronchi and bronchioles; and the terminal branches of the respiratory tree. The lungs of mammals are a rich lattice of alveoli, which provide an enormous surface area for gas exchange. A network of fine capillaries allows transport of blood over the surface of alveoli. Oxygen from the air inside the alveoli diffuses into the bloodstream, and carbon dioxide diffuses from the blood to the alveoli, both across thin alveolar membranes. The drawing and expulsion of air is driven by muscular action; in early tetrapods, air was driven into the lungs by the pharyngeal muscles, whereas in reptiles, birds and mammals a more complicated musculoskeletal system is used. In the mammal, a large muscle, the diaphragm (in addition to the internal intercostal muscles), drive ventilation by periodically altering the intra-thoracic volume and pressure; by increasing volume and thus decreasing pressure, air flows into the airways down a pressure gradient, and by reducing volume and increasing pressure, the reverse occurs. During normal breathing, expiration is passive and no muscles are contracted.. [\n\nNonrespiratory functions\n\nIn addition to respiratory functions such as gas exchange and regulation of hydrogen ion concentration, the lungs also:\n\n    * influence the concentration of biologically active substances and drugs used in medicine in arterial blood\n    * filter out small blood clots fo
510672
It's a condition in which air leaks into the space between the lungs and the chest wall.  It is serious because it leads to lung collapse and needs to be treated.  The treatment is to insert a thin tube into that space - called "the pleural space" that is in turn attached to a device that reinflates the lungs and keeps them that way as the leak heals.  Yes, it's a bit uncomfortable, but so is dying of asphyxia!
604034
Consolidation is when an area of lung is full of infection and white blood cells go to that area to fight infection as in pneumonia or abscess. A collapsed lung--the lung tissue is surrounded by a sac--the sack has a leak-called pneumothorax--very serious,may need a chest tube inserted to re inflate lung--can happen from accident,disease, surgery, or "spontaneous from lung wall weakness
920891
The lungs are surrounded by two membranes, the pleurae. The outer pleura is attached to the chest wall and is known as the Parietal pleura; the inner one is attached to the lung and other visceral tissues and is known as the Visceral pleura. In between the two is a thin space known as the pleural cavity or pleural space. It is filled with pleural fluid, a serous fluid produced by the pleura.\n\nThe pleural fluid lubricates the pleural surfaces and allows the layers of pleura to slide against each other easily during respiration. It also provides the surface tension that keeps the lung surface in contact with the chest wall. During quiet breathing, the cavity normally experiences a negative pressure (compared to the atmosphere) which helps adhere the lungs to the chest wall, so that movements of the chest wall during breathing are coupled closely to movements of the lungs.\n\nThe pleural membrane also helps to keep the two lungs away from each other and air tight, thus if one lung is punctured and collapses due to an accident, the other pleural cavity will still be air tight, and the other lung will work normally\n\nThe parietal pleura is highly sensitive to pain; the visceral pleura is not. The visceral pleura has a dual blood supply, from the bronchial and pulmonary arteries. In humans, there is no anatomical connection between the left and right pleural cavities, so in cases of pneumothorax (see below), the other hemithorax will still be able to function normally.\n\nYou could get more information from the link below...
560650
haha the answer above me is funny...what what exactly do you want to know about it? theres a lot to do with respiration...theres inspiration where the air is taken in..this is caused by a contraction of the diaphragm..thens there structures like the epiglotis, trachea, pharynx...then the oxygen goes to your lungs..where gas exchange occurs in the alveoli's...this is done by some complicated process that i dont understand really..i didnt really pay attention during this part of physiology/biology class. haha. anyway, the oxygen is picked up by the pulmonary artery and goes to the rest of the body through the aorta...uhh, i can think of anything else..hope this helps!
350863
The diffusion of gas across a membrane requires that the membrane be wet.  If the wet membrane were on the surface the animal would quickly dry out.  Since the exchange is located deep in a lung there is opportunity for the water to be recovered before exhaling.
666233
water volume in your cells and thereby your tissues is at a higher than normal level.  so rather than the excess water leaving your body through urine, you are retaining it.  lack of adh can cause this, so can high salt intake etc.
467845
how indepth do you want this?\n\nbasically caused by a pressure differential in your lungs (the diaphragm inflates the lungs)...the oxygen molecules are forced through alveoli (sacs) into the bloodstream because fo this pressure differential...at the same time...Carbon Dioxide flows in the opposite direction from the blood to teh lungs to be exhaled...the oxygen attaches itself to hemoglobin..which is found in the red blood cells...and is then transported throughout the body by the heart (arteries pump blood away from the heart to teh body..veins take the blood back)\n\nhope thats good enough lol