how does our lungs clean themselves from small things that get in them like dust?
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Your lungs are lined with tiny hairs which work together in rhythm to push particles to the top of your trachea (where your voice box is), so you can swallow them into your stomach and/or cough them up and swallow them.
The cells coating the inside of your lungs (epithelial cells) have little hair-like structures called cilia which can vibrate and move a layer of fluid (mucus) produced by other cells known as goblet cells. Any irritant or pathogen can get stuck in this mucus as it is moved up to a position where it can be coughed out.
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Cilia and mucus. The dust/smoke/particles get trapped in the wet mucosa lining in the lungs. The lining and contaminants are continually pushed out of the lungs via the tiny hairs (cillia) to the throat. Big “blobs” of mucus cause a cough reflex to force the blockage out.
Boogers and coughs.
The other folk have the more scientific explanations, but when you clear your throat, the gunk thats moving around has all the little nasties trapped in it.
Ever notice how gross your boogers are after spending a day in a busy city? I notice it especially after being in London and travelling on the Tube (Subway) throughout the day. Your nose is like one of those sticky fly traps but for the particles you mention instead of bluebottles.
Answers given are good, but no one has NAMED this system of mucous and tiny hairs (cilia) that capture and push stuff out of the lungs, and the name is wonderful.
It is the ___mucociliary elevator___.
Please do note that they can’t get everything out and it can be a serious problem. Things like air pollution and coal and any situation with a lot of particulates can lead to serious medical issues.
Mucus. Adding that to explain how the cilia are able to move dust, etc. It gets caught in the mucus.
A great tonic for the lungs is walnuts. Have a handful at bedtime (also a good source of melatonin) and in a few days your elbows will get crusty. Weird, I know, but that’s the crap leaving the body. When your elbows are clear so are your lungs. That’s my experience anyway
For a lot of the lungs, there are sort of little hairs that dance and move stuff up and out, until they trigger a cough or sneeze to happen and blast it all out your face. In the deep deep parts (alveoli), there are cops (white blood cells/macrophages) on patrol to snatch up anything that isn’t supposed to be there.
Normally, the lungs are a very clean environment, and people can get pretty bad infections (pneumonia) if they accidentally inhale food, especially older folks.
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