Ribs and diaphragm
How the chest changes when we breathe.
A bigger chest
When you take a deep breath, your chest becomes bigger.
What makes the space in the chest bigger?
What this lesson covers
The idea
On inhaling, the ribs move up and outwards and the diaphragm moves down, enlarging the chest so air enters the lungs; on exhaling, the ribs move down and inwards and the diaphragm moves up, pushing air out.
A bigger chest
When you take a deep breath, your chest becomes bigger.
What makes the space in the chest bigger?
- The ribs move up and outwards and the diaphragm moves down
- The stomach grows bigger
- The nose pulls the air in
Inhale and exhale
Press Inhale. Press Exhale. Watch the ribs and the diaphragm.
Space grows, space shrinks
When the chest space grows, air comes in. When it shrinks, air is pushed out.
On inhaling, the ribs move up and outwards and the diaphragm moves down, enlarging the chest so air enters the lungs. On exhaling, the ribs move down and inwards and the diaphragm moves up, pushing air out.
- Breath | Ribs | Diaphragm | Air
- Inhale | Up and outwards | Down | Enters the lungs
- Exhale | Down and inwards | Up | Pushed out
Notes
On inhaling, the ribs move up and outwards and the diaphragm moves down, enlarging the chest so air enters the lungs. On exhaling, the ribs move down and inwards and the diaphragm moves up, pushing air out.
Check yourself
When we inhale, the ribs move …
When we inhale, the diaphragm moves …
What is the diaphragm?
When we exhale, air is pushed out because the space in the chest …
- down and inwards. That happens when we exhale.
- nowhere. The ribs move up and outwards when we inhale.
- up and outwards — correct. Yes!
- down — correct. Yes!
- up. The diaphragm moves up when we exhale.
- It stays still. The diaphragm moves down when we inhale.
- A bone in the chest. Ribs are bones. The diaphragm is a dome-shaped muscle below the lungs.
- A dome-shaped muscle below the lungs — correct. Yes!
- A part of the windpipe. The windpipe carries air. The diaphragm is a dome-shaped muscle below the lungs.
- becomes larger. When the space becomes larger, air enters. On exhaling the space becomes smaller.
- does not change. The space changes with the movement of the ribs and the diaphragm.
- becomes smaller — correct. Yes!