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How Hooke’s Law Has Led to Advancements in Respiratory Care Essay

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Everyday amazing things happen in the human body. One of the things that happens is the way we take a breath, how we are able to use that breath to sustain life. As a breath is taken in, there’s many different physical and gas laws that take place to allow it to happen. With Hooke’s law I will be discussing what it is, how it relates to respiratory care, and the medical advances it may include. Hooke’s law was named after the man that discovered it in 1660. Robert Hooke was a 17th century physicist who discovered the relationship between the forces applied to a spring and elasticity. He published his book in 1678 that included the description of his work. Hooke’s law states that any elastic body, like a spring is acted on by a unit of …show more content…

Once the limits have been reached, there is very little or no change that will occur in the response to any pressure change. This is figured out by using the equation of change in pressure and the change in volume. (Jardins, 2013) By using this equation it will help figure out how compliant the lungs are. This is critical in figuring lung dysfunctions and developing care for a patient. One of the major diseases that lowers the elastance of the lung and the most preventable is Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). COPD is categorized with an increase of airway resistance and the loss of lung elasticity. As a restriction in airflow develops, it leads to the hyperinflation of the alveoli. Some other diseases that are caused by low elastic conditions and is related to Hooke’s law are traumatic chest injuries, pneumonia, pneumothorax, pleural effusion, acute respiratory distress syndrome, pulmonary edema, and interstitial lung disease. All of the disease and/or illness’s cause the pressure-volume curve to slide to the right very quickly and allows the lung elastic properties to decrease significantly. (Jardins, 2013) Hooke’s law is directly related to the use of mechanical ventilation. If when a patient is placed on a mechanical ventilation, you can exceed the limitations cause by the lower elastance of the lung. A severe type of pneumothorax can occur in people who need mechanical assistance to breathe. The action of the

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