Role of conducting airways in partial separation of inhaled gas mixtures

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Abstract
A positive (hollow) cast of the bronchial tree was made from a pig''s lung. Gas mixtures containing SF6 and He, and SF6 and Ar, were blowm down the cast at 2 different flows, the cast having 1st been filled with air. Gas was sampled by a mass spectrometer probe from 1-mm-diam branches situated on short, medium and long pathways. The front of the SF6 appeared in advance of the fronts of the He and the Ar. This relative advancement was greater with the SF6/He mixture than with the SF6/Ar mixture; at slower flows; and on longer pathways. With reverse flow up the cast using SF6/He, there was little difference between the arrival times of the 2 gas fronts at either flow. These results could be exlained by the effects of Taylor dispersion on gases having different diffusion coefficients.

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