From: Gene Thompson (gthompso@ccsf.cc.ca.us)
Date: Wed May 09 2001 - 15:45:25 PDT
Date: Wed, 9 May 2001 15:45:25 -0700 (PDT) From: Gene Thompson <gthompso@ccsf.cc.ca.us> Subject: Re: pinhole human biology questions Message-ID: <Pine.HPX.4.21.0105091541320.21523-100000@fog.ccsf.cc.ca.us>
I'm not a music teacher but I do have some instrumental background and
knew quite a few musicians who circular breathed. The trick, as far as I
understand it (and I can't do it myself), is to get a mouth full of air
then breathe in through your nose while squeezing the air out of your
mouth. This keeps air flowing through the instrument while you
restock. In people just learning, you can hear when they're doing this as
the volume decreases and there's often weakness in the pitch. But when
people get good at it, there's no way to tell by listening.
Ellen Koivisto
On Tue, 8 May 2001, Tory Brady wrote:
> Hi Mike. I will answer what I can...
> 1. Don't know-- maybe the music teacher can help you.
> 2. You breathe out the same amount of "air" that you inhale, but it is
> different in composition. According to the text, "Biology" by Campbell,
> "Starting with glucose or other organic fuel and using oxygen, respiration
> yields water, carbon dioxide, and energy in the form of ATP and heat." The
> carbon dioxide is transported to the pulmonary capillaries in the form of
> carbonic acid (dissociated into bicarbonate and H+) In the lungs it
> reconverts to CO2 and is expired. In normal quiet breathing, the
> contraction of the diaphragm and external intercostal muscles increases the
> thoracic and lung volum, decreasing intrapulmonary pressure to about -3mm
> Hg.
> Relaxation of the diaphragm and external intercostals, plus elastic recoil
> of lungs, decreases lung volume and increases intrapulmonary pressure to
> about +3mm Hg. Since the pressure gradients are the same, it seems the
> amount of gas entering or leaving would be about the same.
> 3. The active chemical in most asthma inhalers is a form of epinephrine,
> which causes bronchodilation, or the opening of the bronchioles that have
> "swollen shut" in an allergic response.
> 4. Bruising is caused by the breaking of tiny capillaries and the
> subsequent bleeding under the skin in the area of the bruise. So, since
> there are blood vessels supplying the bones, you could say you got a "bone
> bruise" if the blow was hard enough to break some of the capillaries
> supplying the outer surfaces of the bone.
> 5. The propensity to get asthma is a very charged issue right now.
> Research has shown that children who live in areas near freeways, large
> incinerators, and just generally toxic areas tend to have a higher
> incidence of asthma. (I used to teach in a school that was next door to a
> refinery and every teacher had an inhaler or two in their desks for the
> kids in their class with asthma.) It is no surprise that the areas
> described are often low-income areas. Low income moms are more likely to
> need Ceasarean sections for a number of reasons. Also, mothers who have
> Caesarian sections are statistically less likely to bresat-feed or to
> succeed at breast-feeding than vaginal birth moms. Breast feeding
> transfers to the infant large numbers of antibodies that are not yet being
> manufactured by the baby's immature immune system. This could also be a
> factor in the asthma incidence. This would be a great topic for your kids
> to research!
> 6 Hiccups can be cause dby a number of things-- too much CO2, a rub
> stimulus from something touching the diaphragm, etc. Like other muscle
> spasms, sometimes they can be alleviated by changing the position of the
> muscle, by contracting or expanding it, or by taking in more O2.
> 7. I don't think so-- seems like it sometimes, and maybe intrathoracic
> pressure would squeeze heart, but I think rather than skipping a beat the
> beat would be indetectable. Have to check that one out...
> Good questions! Lots of possibilities for further thinking.
> -- Tory Brady, TI
>
>
>
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> To unsubscribe from pinhole, send an email to requests@exploratorium.edu
> with the words 'unsubscribe pinhole' (without the quotes) in the SUBJECT
> of the email.
>
> To subscribe to the digest and only get 1 combined message a day, send an
> email to requests@exploratorium.edu with the words 'subscribe digest
> pinhole' (without the quotes) in the SUBJECT of the email.
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>
>
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Tue Oct 16 2001 - 12:22:22 PDT