Diffusion is the movement of materials from a higher to a lower concentration. The differences between oxygen and carbon dioxide concentrations are measured by partial pressures. The greater the difference in partial pressure the greater the rate of diffusion.
Respiratory pigments increase the oxygen-carrying capacity of the blood. Humans have the red-colored pigment hemoglobin as their respiratory pigment. Hemoglobin increases the oxygen-carrying capacity of the blood between 65 and 70 times. Each red blood cell has about 250 million hemoglobin molecules, and each milliliter of blood contains 1.25 X 1015 hemoglobin molecules. Oxygen concentration in cells is low (when leaving the lungs blood is 97% saturated with oxygen), so oxygen diffuses from the blood to the cells when it reaches the capillaries.
Effectiveness of various oxygen carrying molecules. Image from Purves et al., Life: The Science of Biology, 4th Edition, by Sinauer Associates (www.sinauer.com) and WH Freeman (www.whfreeman.com), used with permission.
Carbon dioxide concentration in metabolically active cells is much greater than in capillaries, so carbon dioxide diffuses from the cells into the capillaries. Water in the blood combines with carbon dioxide to form bicarbonate. This removes the carbon dioxide from the blood so diffusion of even more carbon dioxide from the cells into the capillaries continues yet still manages to "package" the carbon dioxide for eventual passage out of the body.
Details of gas exchange. Images from Purves et al., Life: The Science of Biology, 4th Edition, by Sinauer Associates (www.sinauer.com) and WH Freeman (www.whfreeman.com), used with permission.
In the alveoli capillaries, bicarbonate combines with a hydrogen ion (proton) to form carbonic acid, which breaks down into carbon dioxide and water. The carbon dioxide then diffuses into the alveoli and out of the body with the next exhalation.
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