Boyle's Law states that at a constant temperature, volume of a gas is inversely proportional to the pressure.

This means, the more

pressure you have, lets say a syringe, the less the volume (clearly since by pressing the syringe there is less space in it.)

When you breathe, the lungs expand, the pressure in your lungs is greater than outside and so air exists your lungs outside by diffusion,
to balance out the pressure in your lungs with atmospheric pressure. The relationship is simply that in this process of balancing out the
pressure in your lungs and atmospheric pressure, Boyle's Law states that the volume of gas is inversely related to the pressure of the gas
in a closed system at a constant temperature.

What this means is that as the pressure increases, the volume will decrease; or as the pressure decreases, the volume will increase.

The way that I relate this to breathing is through SCUBA diving, since it is usually one of the laws that governs how deep somebody can
dive and what might happen to them if they come up to quickly, etc.

Think about it: as a diver descends in the water, the pressure increases, meaning that the volume of the air that the diver is breathing
decreases -- the same amount of air takes up less space.

As you ascend, this compressed air begins to expand again, and if you were to hold your breath, your lungs would fill beyond capacity
with the re-expanded air, and they could explode, which is why you should let air out of your lungs as you ascend.
Restrictive Lung Disease
Restrictive lung disease is a chronic disorder that causes a decrease in the ability to expand the lung (breathe in) and sometimes makes it
harder to get enough oxygen to meet the body's needs. The most common restrictive lung diseases are:
Restrictive lung diseases are characterized by reduced lung volumes, either because of an alteration in lung parenchyma or
because of a disease of the pleura, chest wall, or neuromuscular apparatus. Unlike obstructive lung diseases, including asthma
and COPD, which show a normal or increased total lung capacity (TLC), restrictive disease are associated with a decreased
TLC. Measures of expiratory airflow are preserved and airway resistance is normal. If caused by parenchymal lung disease,
restrictive lung disorders are accompanied by reduced gas transfer, which may be marked clinically by desaturation after
exercise.
The mnemonic "PAINT" has been used to divide the causes of restrictive lung disease into pleural, alveolar, interstitial,
neuromuscular, and thoracic cage abnormalities.
Restrictive lung disease, a decrease in the total volume of air that the lungs are able to hold, is often due to a decrease in the elasticity of
the lungs themselves or caused by a problem related to the expansion of the chest wall during inhalation. Examples of restrictive lung
diseases include asbestosis, sarcoidosis and pulmonary fibrosis. estrictive pulmonary diseases represent only half of the spectrum in the
lung disorder
equation. They may range in severity and complexity and in the health care and medical
treatments needed. The ultimate goals for management of the patient with any
pulmonary disease are control of illness related symptoms, improved quality of life, and
extension of life expectancy. All lung diseases have a common ground, the patient who lives
with the disease. The only thing these patients value is the medical care that can improve his/her
life. So extensive knowledge on restrictive diseases for RCPs is necessary to provide the patient
with the valuable healthcare treatments they seek. This educational course will provide and
overview of many common restrictive lung diseases. Provided in the following sections is
information on the signs, symptoms and diagnostic testing related to treating lung disorders that
impair the ability to expand the lungs. These types of disorders may be chronic conditions or
may exacerbate acutely with caused by a lung infection. Ongoing medical care is great to treat
the immediate causes of respiratory diseases, but the most important information RCPs should
provide to their patients is education about the patients disease, how to self treat, how to manage
the illness, and how to prevent recurrent exacerbations (if preventable by disease process), and
the importance of compliance with MD ordered therapy.
What Is Obstructive Lung Disease?
People with obstructive lung disease have shortness of breath due to difficulty exhaling all the air from the lungs. Because of damage to
the lungs or narrowing of the airways inside the lungs, exhaled air comes out more slowly than normal. At the end of a full exhalation, an
abnormally high amount of air may still linger in the lungs.
The most common causes of obstructive lung disease are:
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), which includes emphysema and chronic bronchitis
Asthma
Bronchiectasis
Cystic fibrosis
Obstructive lung disease makes it harder to breathe, especially during increased activity or exertion. As the rate of breathing increases,
there is less time to breathe all the air out before the next inhalation.
Obstructive lung disease is a category of respiratory disease characterized by airway obstruction. It is generally characterized by
inflamed and easily collapsible airways, obstruction to airflow, problems exhaling and frequent medical clinic visits and hospitalizations.
Types of obstructive lung disease include; asthma, bronchiectasis, bronchitis andchronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
Although COPD shares similar characteristics with all other obstructive lung diseases, such as the signs of coughing and wheezing, they
are distinct conditions in terms of disease onset, frequency of symptoms and reversibility of airway obstruction.
[1]
Cystic fibrosis is also
sometimes included in obstructive pulmonary disease
Daltons Law
Daltons law of partial pressures states that the total pressure (Pt) of a gas mixture is equal to the sum of the partial pressures of the
individual gases in the mixture. If a sphere contains 10 molecules of the gases X, Y and Z, each exerts a pressure proportional to the
number of molecules of that gas that the sphere contains.
Daltons law may be stated as:
Pt = P1 + P2 + P3
Atmospheric Air
Atmospheric air is a mixture of several molecular components. Presuming the air is dry (such that water or H20 exerts no pressure),
their concentrations are: Nitrogen (N2): 78.08 percent by volume Oxygen (O2): 20.95 percent Carbon dioxide (CO2): 0.03 percent Argon
(Ar): 0.93 percent
Some trace components include neon, krypton, xenon, methane and nitrous oxide.
Those partial pressures may be expressed in barometric millimeters of mercury (mm Hg), which are as follows: Nitrogen: 593 mm Hg
Oxygen: 159 mm Hg Argon: 7 mm Hg Carbon dioxide: 0.2 mm Hg
In Respiration and In Therapy
Within the lungs, total pressure may be expressed as:
Pt = P(CO2) + P(O2) + P(N2) + P(H20)
While the pressure of C02 is fairly negligible in the atmosphere, its concentrations are far higher within the lungs, as it is a product of
respiration.
By increasing the percentage of any gas in airs mixture, a higher partial pressure of that gas can be achieved, which is the basis of oxygen
therapy. Daltons law is used in the practices of pulmonary physiology, ventilator care, medical gas administration, arterial blood gas and
pulmonary path physiology, among other applications.



Our lungs are composed of millions of tiny alveoli, or air sacs. These sacs are
connected by a network of ducts, beginning with the trachea, then separating
into smaller and smaller tubes in each lung, called bronchioli. Pascal's law


dictates that the pressure in each of these millions of tiny sacs is the same,

and it is called the alveolar pressure. Pascal's law is pressure transmitted
rapidly and uniformly throughout an enclosed fluid at rest. So, for instance, if

we contract our lower abdominal muscles with our glottis closed, the pressure in
the lower part of our lungs is increased, and this change is quickly transmitted

to the rest of our lungs. If the glottis is then opened, air will then rush out

until the lung pressure is equal to the pressure of the surrounding air.