What is the purpose of the cilia and mucus? Also, what is the difference between breathing and respiration?
Cilia are small hairs that line certain cells and ‘brush’ the mucus and trapped particles in a common directon. This is how you get ‘stuff’ out of your lungs and nasal tract – ciliated epithelial tissue moves the mucus up from your lungs and out of your body. As for the difference between breathing and respiration – breathing is a macroscopic process driven by the lungs, respiration is a cellular process where oxygen serves as the final electron acceptor in oxidative-phosporylation, a process linked to the aerobic krebs cycle to generate massive amounts of ATP relative to glycolysis or ‘anaerobic’ metabolism. KEEP STUDYING SCIENCE – GOOD FOR YOUR BRAIN, GOOD FOR THE WORLD! (George W.
