Airways and lungs

Conducting airways

Air passes through the larynx, whose largest cartilage is the thyroid cartilage, into the trachea. The trachea is held open by C-shaped cartilage rings and divides into the right and left main bronchi, which branch repeatedly inside the lungs.

• Show the airways →

Lobes of the lungs

The right lung has three lobes (upper, middle and lower); the left lung has two (upper and lower). The left lung is smaller because the heart occupies space on the left side of the chest.

• Show the lungs with the heart →
• Select the middle lobe →

Further reading

• 22.1 Organs and Structures of the Respiratory System (opens in a new tab) — OpenStax, Anatomy and Physiology 2e
• 22.2 The Lungs (opens in a new tab) — OpenStax, Anatomy and Physiology 2e

OpenStax Anatomy and Physiology 2e (J. Gordon Betts et al., OpenStax, 2022) is cited as further reading. Its text is licensed CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 and is not reproduced here; SomaVista's explanations are written independently.