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pressure gradient forcing air into the lungs during inhalation is also reduced by altitude. Doubling the volume of the lungs halves the pressure in the lungs at any altitude. Halving the sea level air pressure (100 kPa) results in a pressure gradient of 50 kPa but doing the same at 5500 m, where the atmospheric pressure is 50 kPa, a doubling of the volume of the lungs results in a pressure gradient of the only 25 kPa. In practice, because we breathe in a gentle, cyclical manner

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