Do you know what your kidneys do for you? These fist sized organs do more than you might think.
They filter your blood, for starters. They filter out the toxins and impurities found in your blood, as well as anything in excess that your body already has enough of, like minerals or vitamins. The toxins and impurities are created through chemical reactions when the body absorbs nutrients and leaves what is not needed.
They filter your blood, for starters. They filter out the toxins and impurities found in your blood, as well as anything in excess that your body already has enough of, like minerals or vitamins. The toxins and impurities are created through chemical reactions when the body absorbs nutrients and leaves what is not needed.
The kidney filters everything through nephrons. There are about 1 million of these tube-like filters in each kidney. They are capable of expanding when the nephrons slowly begin to quit functioning, around age 40, this allows them to filter at full capacity still.
Kidneys filter up to 400 gallons of blood a day! That's filtering all your blood 400 times a day or about 16 times an hour! The blood travels to your kidney through the aorta artery and straight back to the heart to be distributed throughout your body.
Did you know that the kidneys also regulate body fluid? If you are dehydrated, then you kidneys stop passing water through the ureter to the badder.
They also regulate blood pressure. When the blood pressure drops in the kidney, it signals the blood vessels throughout the body to restrict, therefore increasing the blood pressure throughout the body and keeping the blood flowing to all the organs.
When there is not enough oxygen in the blood, the kidneys will create a hormone that will signal the creation of more red blood cells. RBC are responsible for carrying oxygen throughout the body.
When there is not enough oxygen in the blood, the kidneys will create a hormone that will signal the creation of more red blood cells. RBC are responsible for carrying oxygen throughout the body.
You can live with one healthy kidney. You can even live with one kidney that is at 75% capacity. But without a working kidney and dialysis (having a machine clean your blood), you would have one to two weeks before your body shut down.
No, we're not kidney-ing you. They really are that important!
If you're interested...
Home Science Tools has a great collection of science learning tools. Yes, we choose to dissect body parts as we learn about the body, but they have so much more! If you're not interested in dissection, they have other great stuff - like raising butterflies or hatching quail eggs, chemistry kits and hard to find chemicals, and all sorts of experiment kits! But if you want to dissect, there's a lot of animals and insects to chose from, and dissection guides can be included! Check it out by clicking on the picture below or link above!