• Question: why cant we breath under water

    Asked by gabbie romany POTTERHEADS to Hannah, Joanna, Joe, Luis, Vincent on 15 Jun 2016. This question was also asked by ilish.
    • Photo: Joanna Bagniewska

      Joanna Bagniewska answered on 15 Jun 2016:

      Because our lungs are not adapted to handle water, just air. We cannot extract oxygen from water – we need it in the air form.

    • Photo: Hannah Grist

      Hannah Grist answered on 16 Jun 2016:

      Sadly, because we’re not designed to be able to do that. Breathing is the way we get oxygen into the body, which we need to stay alive. Our lungs are adapted to only being able to take in air and take out the oxygen, and can’t cope with water.

      Lots of animals can though: things like sharks that live in the water the whole time. Sharks don’t have lungs, they have gills (tiny slits near the face) that take oxygen from the water. What’s really cool about some sharks is that they can only push water over the gills while they are swimming: which means if they stop swimming, they can’t breathe. Sounds like a difficult way to breathe to me: imagine if you had to run ALL the time?

    • Photo: Vincent Keenan

      Vincent Keenan answered on 21 Jun 2016:

      We cant breathe under water because we don’t live under water, it’s a shame really 🙁 The environment a species lives in affects its evolution. Waaaaay long ago our evolutionary ancestors left the water and moved onto land, because they no longer needed to breathe under water, their bodies stoppped investing in ways how to do so. This carried on with all species that lived on land afterwards, which eventually resulted in us!

    • Photo: Joe Nunez-Mino

      Joe Nunez-Mino answered on 21 Jun 2016:

      Our lungs eveolved to take oxygen out of the air. Taking oxygen out of water needs a different design OR we could do what whales do and come up for air to the surface. Being humans though we have invented our way out of this tricky situation by creating diving equipment which allows us to breathe under water for a limited period – I know, its cheating!

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