answersLogoWhite

0


Best Answer

The primary muscle responsible for air entering the lungs is the diaphragm. The diaphragm is a dome-shaped muscle that lies just below your lungs, internally separating the thoracic cavity from the abdominal cavity. When you take in a deep breath, your diaphragm (along with other accessory muscles) contracts and flattens while your chest wall expands creating a negative pressure within the thoracic cavity. This allows air to move from an area of high pressure to an area of lower pressure during inhalation.

User Avatar

Wiki User

13y ago
This answer is:
User Avatar
More answers
User Avatar

Wiki User

11y ago

Your diaphragm both pushes and pulls the air.

This answer is:
User Avatar

User Avatar

Wiki User

8y ago

That muscle is the diaphragm.

This answer is:
User Avatar

Add your answer:

Earn +20 pts
Q: What is the muscle that contracts to let air in and relaxes to push out air?
Write your answer...
Submit
Still have questions?
magnify glass
imp
Related questions

What does the human diaphragm do?

It contracts and relaxes to help pull air into the lungs and push it back out. The diaphragm contracts and moves lower which expands the ribs and allows air to move into the lungs. When it relaxes, the ribs contract and push air back out of the lungs.


What part is a thin flat muscle under your ribs?

This the diaphragm. When it contracts it lowers and air can rush into the lungs. When it relaxes air leaves.


What is Diaphragm?

Lungs do not contain muscle tissue. air enters your lungs when the muscular diaphragm contracts, pulling your ribs up and out. The diaphragm relaxes when you exhale.


Were is the diaphragm belong?

The diaphagm - is a sheet of muscle that separates the lungs from the abdomen. When we breathe in - it contracts, which makes the lungs expand - drawing air in. When we breathe out - it relaxes, allowing the air to escape.


Muscle that controls breathing as it contracts and relaxes?

The Diaphragm - a membrane of muscle and tendon, flexes to reduce ambient pressure in the thorax, and cause the lungs to compensate by drawing in air. Exhalation works in reverse.


How the diaphragm helps the lungs?

Your diaphragm contracts and expands when you breath. When the diaphragm contracts, air rushes into the lungs. When the diaphragm relaxes, air is exhaled.


Is the lungs a muscle?

Lungs are not muscles. They are made up of connective, epithelial, and nervous tissues. The diaphragm is the muscle that contracts and relaxes to expand and relax the chest cavity. Your lungs just fill with air -- which is why they appear to be moving (much like a when a balloon fills with air).


What part of the body helps us breathe in?

The diaphragm relaxes to help squeeze the air out of your lungs. When the diaphragm contracts, it flattens and pulls air into your lungs. When it relaxes into its dome-shaped position, air is pushed out.


Which muscle is under the lungs?

The diaphragm. When it contracts, it increases the space in the chest cavity, and also lowers the pressure inside it. This causes air to be sucked into the lungs. Likewise, when it relaxes, the spaces becomes smaller, and the pressure increases and forces the air out.


How do the lungs move?

The diaphragm is a strong wall of muscle on the bottom of the chest cavity. As this wall of muscle expands downward, a vacuum is created which pulls air into the lungs. As the diaphragm returns to it's original position, air is pushed out of the lungs.


What does the diaphragm muscle do when air moves into the lungs?

The diaphragm moves down to make the lungs expand (inhalation)


What two statements describe how the diaphragm works?

The diaphragm is a dome-shaped muscle that contracts and relaxes during breathing. When it contracts, it flattens out and pulls downwards, creating a vacuum that expands the chest cavity and draws air into the lungs. When the diaphragm relaxes, it moves back to its original dome shape, pushing air out of the lungs as the chest cavity decreases in size. This process of contracting and relaxing allows for inhalation and exhalation, enabling breathing to occur.