Science Projects on the Respiratory System

The respiratory system is an important part of our body. This organ system is instrumental in the circulation of oxygen and thereby, blood in different parts of the body. Studying the respiratory system through science projects should be interesting. There are many different ideas that you can use for such projects.

One of the simplest models of human respiratory system can be created by using items no more than 2 balloons, a bell jar, piece of rubber, Y-tube, tightly fitting corks and accessories for putting these things in place. The bell-jar serves as a model of thoracic cavity - which incorporates lungs in the form of two balloons.

The Y-tube is used to attach balloons to their ends. The Y-tube has 3 ends. Two ends are connected to the balloons and the other end is left free. Now let us understand how to create the assembly for this respiratory system science fair project.

Fit a cork on top opening of the bell jar. There should be a hole in this cork for the free end of Y-tube to pass through. Balloons should be fitted on the 2 ends of Y-tube and tied with rubber bands. The free end should then be passed through the cork. The open end of bell jar should be covered by a rubber pieces (taken from a large balloon).

The rubber piece need to be tied by means of rubber bands. The balloons connected to the Y-tube should be blown to 1/4th of their total capacity; air should be blown through the free end of Y-tube. Immediately after blowing air into the balloons, the free end be sealed with an appropriately sized cork.

This completes our respiratory system model project. The rubber piece that covers bottom end of bell-jar represents the diaphragm.

The effects of smoking on lungs can be demonstrated with a jar experiment. You would need 2 jars, 2 pieces of sponge, 2 rubber tubes and a cigarette for this project. Both the jars should possess small holes at the top for rubber tubes to pass through. The hole drilled on one of the jars should be large enough to fit in a cigarette and rubber tube.

Place one sponge piece in each of the jars. The ends of rubber tube should be fitted in holes present on jars; the rubber tube should connect two jars with each other. Now insert the cigarette into one of the jars. Smoke emitted by cigarette directly enters the first jar.

Part of the smoke travels from the first jar to second through the rubber tube. Both the sponges should be examined after the cigarette has finished burning. The condition of sponges (covered by soot and tar) gives us an idea of the actual damage caused to lungs.

This experiment allows us to find whether temperature change has any effect on the functioning of lungs. It is one of simplest and yet interesting science projects on the respiratory system that children can use. For this project, you would need a peak flow meter, a Celsius thermometer and 5 volunteers.

To perform this experiment, the volunteers have to blow in the peak flow meters in order to test their lung functioning. Thermometer should be used to check the body temperature of volunteers. One of the volunteers should be asked to blow into the peak flow meter while at room temperature.

The reading should be recorded as normal lung capacity. This volunteer should then be asked into stay in a cold area for about 3-5 minutes; the peak flow meter reading taken after being in a cold environment should be different. The same volunteer should then be made to stay for 3-5 minutes in a warm environment.

You can observe the differences between these three readings. The same procedure should be repeated for the other 4 volunteers. Based on the results of all the tests, you can find the average of changes (based on temperature variations) observed in the lung capacity.

You don't need to have specialized instruments or equipment to conduct experiment associated with the respiratory system. The simple techniques and devices mentioned above, can help in making science projects on the respiratory system. Kids would find all these ideas interesting for their projects.