| Questions | 5 |
| Topics | Capillaries, Filtering Air, Medulla, Prefixes, Warm Front |
Capillaries are small thin-walled vessels that permit the exchange of oxygen, carbon dioxide, nutrients, and waste between blood and the body's cells. This process of exchange is called diffusion.
After air enters through the nose, it passes through the nasal cavity which filters, moistens, and warms it. Further filtering takes place in the pharynx, which also helps protect against infection, and then in the trachea which is just past the epiglottis, responsible for preventing food from entering the airway.
Part of the brainstem, the medulla is the connection between the brain and the spinal cord. It controls involuntary actions like breathing, swallowing, and heartbeat.
A prefix is added to the base units of the metric system to indicate variations in size. Each prefix specifies a value relative to the base unit in a multiple of 10. Common prefixes are:
| Prefix | Symbol | Relative Value | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| mega | M | 106 (1,000,000) | Mm |
| kilo | k | 103 (1,000) | km |
| base unit | N/A | 1 | m |
| centi | c | 10-2 (1/100) | cm |
| milli | m | 10-3 (1/1,000) | mm |
A warm front is the boundary between warm and cool (or cold) air when the warm air is replacing the cold air. Warm air at the surface pushes above the cool air mass creating clouds and storms.