Merging Bio and Chem: Lungs and Gas Laws

This week I tried a new Boyle's Law activity where my students made a DIY lung system out of balloons, straws, and a plastic bottle. Upon conclusion of this activity, I leverage unused fetal pigs from biology class dissections earlier in the year to demonstrate how their DIY systems are similar to structures found in real organisms. Additionally, I discussed topics such as intubation, pulmonary surfactant, and complexities associated with the use of ventilators in treating advanced COVID. There are so many applications of the Ideal Gas Law and I am somewhat embarrassed that it has taken me 22 years of teaching chemistry to finally dive into relating gas behavior to the process we all do everyday, all day: breathing. See media taken from the past two days of class below.

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