EVERYDAY SCIENCE

Detailed explanation-1: -The intercostal muscles and neck muscles help move the rib cage and thus assist in breathing. Abdominal muscles are sometimes involved in breathing out. The process of breathing out (called exhalation or expiration) is usually passive when a person is not exercising.

Detailed explanation-2: -Your breathing usually does not require any thought, because it is controlled by the autonomic nervous system, also called the involuntary nervous system.

Detailed explanation-3: -The diaphragm, located below the lungs, is the major muscle of respiration. It is a large, dome-shaped muscle that contracts rhythmically and continually, and most of the time, involuntarily. Upon inhalation, the diaphragm contracts and flattens and the chest cavity enlarges.

Detailed explanation-4: -Breathing is a complex motor task that needs to be coordinated at all times while we eat, speak, exercise and even during sleep. The breathing muscles are controlled automatically from the brainstem during normal breathing but can also be controlled voluntarily from the motor cortex.

Detailed explanation-5: -The medulla oblongata is the primary respiratory control center. Its main function is to send signals to the muscles that control respiration to cause breathing to occur.