Explain how increasing breathing rate increases blood pH.
Explain how increasing breathing rate increases blood pH.
A significant property of extracellular body fluid called the blood is its level of acidity and alkalinity. The sharpness or alkalinity of any arrangement, including blood, is demonstrated on the pH scale.
The arrival of carbon dioxide from the lungs is one of the mechanisms that the body uses to control the blood pH. Carbon dioxide (acidic), is a waste product/side-effect of the metabolism of oxygen and supplements/nutrients (which all cells need) and, thus, is continually created by cells and passed from the cells into the blood. The carbon dioxide is conveyed/transferred to the lungs (where CO2 is breathed out) via blood. As carbon dioxide amasses in the blood, the pH of the blood decreases due to production of carbonic acid by the reaction of carbon dioxide and water. The increase in the breathing rate will allow more carbon dioxide to eb released via expiration, which will decrease the carbonic acid production and the bicarbonate/carbonic acid balance/equilibrium moves to the left side which leads to a drop/decrease in the hydronium ion (H3O+) concentration and elevate the pH.
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