Question

How does smoking affect the alveoli in the lungs?

Answer 1

Hint: Smoking harms nearly every body organ. It has harmful effects on the brain, head & face, heart, lungs, DNA, hormones, stomach and almost the entire body. Infact, it can cause Cancer almost anywhere in the body.

Complete answer:
Smoking is responsible for more deaths, than the following causes combined :-
-Alcohol use
-Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)
-Illegal drug use
-Firearm-related incidents
-Motor vehicle injuries

Smokers are at much more risk for cardiovascular diseases, that is, the diseases affecting the heart and blood vessels.
It can cause lung disease by damaging the airways and the small air sacs (alveoli). Lung disease caused due to smoking is COPD that includes chronic bronchitis and emphysema. Smokers are much more likely to die from COPD, than non-smokers.
Alveoli are delicate and tiny air sacs located deep in the lungs. They look like grape clusters, at the ends of the bronchial branches in the lungs. On inhalation, air enters the lungs and travels through passageways to reach 300,000,000 alveoli. Alveoli contain collagen and elastin. This collagen provides firmness to the air sac structure and elastin provides bounce.
With time, the inhaled cigarette smoke’s toxins break the alveoli’s thin walls, leaving quite large, and less efficient air sacs. These air sacs also begin to lose their bounce, making it harder to bring in the oxygen and expel carbon dioxide. Alveoli cannot regrow, so when destroyed/harmed, there is a permanent destruction of a part of lungs. When enough alveoli are destroyed, the disease emphysema (a form of COPD) develops. Emphysema causes severe breath shortness and can be a cause of death. In Emphysema, there is enlargement of alveolar spaces along with destruction of alveolar walls.

Note: An alveolus has an approximate diameter of 200-500 microns, irrespective of whatever the lung’s size may be. The total surface area of all alveoli in a healthy adult set of lungs is approximately 70 sq. mt., or 800 sq. ft.