Saturday, 20 June 2009

Human gills


Human gills?


Question: If we surgically removed gills from a fish, could we put them on our body?  
Could a human breath under water?
Carl W Gamauf

Answer 1:
No. They would have to be connected correctly with the circulatory system, for one 
thing. For another, the diffusion of oxygen in water is very slow compared to air, 
so we wouldn't get enough oxygen to satisfy our needs as humans.
--ProfBill

Answer 2:
Dear Dr. Frankenstein:
Technically, if you were able to supply those transplanted gills with a good blood 
supply, and assuming you could prevent your body from rejecting such a foreign object, 
and assuming those gills were large enough to provide your body with sufficient 
oxygenated blood, and that our very different type of blood would even function to 
carry oxygen from the gill, then....sure, no problem! A human could "breathe" (or 
"respire") under water!!
Tom F Ihde

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