How does increasing breathing rate increases blood pH?
1 Answer
See below...
Explanation:
All aerobic creatures breathe through aerobic respiration
- Aerobic respiration
#sf("C"_6"H"_12"O"_6+6"O"_2 rarr 6"CO"_2+6"H"_2"O"+38"ATP"# All aerobic creatures need oxygen for cellular respiration, which uses the oxygen to break down foods for energy and produces carbon dioxide as a waste product.
- Carbon dioxide
#sf("CO"_2+"H"_2"O"rarr"H"_2"CO"_3)# Carbon dioxide, a waste product formed by aerobic respiration, dissolves in water to form carbonic acid.
Carbonic acid is a weak acid of pH
#sf(4.68# , which makes the solution slightly soluble.
Hence, when one's breathing rate increases, the rate of removal of carbon dioxide from the blood increases, the blood pH increases and vice versa.
When the blood has too much or too little acid, the results are known as acidosis and alkalosis, respectively. Lung or breathing disorders can cause respiratory acidosis and respiratory alkalosis through a dysregulation of the amount of carbon dioxide exhaled during respiration.
