# Bigger nose = more air? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 29, 2013, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bigger-nose-more-air/675062 "2013-11-29T13:22:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Artemis\_Tardis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4bbf92/32.png) [@Artemis\_Tardis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Artemis_Tardis)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2013, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bigger-nose-more-air/675062/1 "2013-11-29T13:22:28Z")
I have a big nose. I am wondering - can I inhale more litres of air per hour because of that, given the fact that I have bigger nostrils? If I had a smaller nose but the same lung capacity would the air just flow faster because of the smaller nostrils or it would take longer to fill up my lungs? Also, would this nose reduction change the pitch of my voice? I really like my voice and I am starting to take some singing lessons and I would hate to change it. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2013, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bigger-nose-more-air/675062/2 "2013-11-29T15:28:50Z")
I, too, am nasally gifted. I’m pretty sure that the limiting factor in inhalation is not nostril size (barring cases where your nose is bunged up). In any case, the narrowest point in your nasal passages is surely a lot narrower than the nostril, so it doesn’t matter how large your schozz, the air still has to get through the rest of the pipes. ---
**Author:** ![Fake\_Tales\_of\_San\_Francisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8491ac/32.png) [@Fake\_Tales\_of\_San\_Francisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fake_Tales_of_San_Francisco)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2013, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bigger-nose-more-air/675062/3 "2013-11-29T15:34:16Z")
I don’t know how rigorous, or valid, this study is, but apparently it’s possible the reason why men’s noses are, on average, bigger than women’s noses is to inhale more oxygen to maintain larger muscle mass. [Link](http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/269199.php) ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2013, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bigger-nose-more-air/675062/4 "2013-11-29T23:04:31Z")
I believe that horses with the largest nostrils are judged as being more valuable than otherwise, because they can supposedly breath in more air, all the better for winning races or other high-power horsely assignments like pulling plows or cargo wagons. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2013, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bigger-nose-more-air/675062/5 "2013-11-30T01:13:58Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > I believe that horses with the largest nostrils are judged as being more valuable than otherwise, because they can supposedly breath in more air, all the better for winning races or other high-power horsely assignments like pulling plows or cargo wagons. But after the air is inhaled, what is done with it? The key is getting the oxygen from the air in the lungs circulated in the blood to the muscles. Thus Secretariat, world-record holding racehorse, had a very large heart – about twice normal size – for this. But no mention of oversized lungs. P.S. There are more efficient designs possible for lungs. Mammalian lungs have to reverse direction about every second, going from breathing-in to breathing-out. A flow-through lung design avoids this problem. (Sharks & some fish use a form of this design. But it requires that you never stop moving, or you suffocate.) ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2013, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bigger-nose-more-air/675062/6 "2013-11-30T01:26:27Z")
> [@t-bonham@scc.net](#): > > P.S. There are more efficient designs possible for lungs. Mammalian lungs have to reverse direction about every second, going from breathing-in to breathing-out. A flow-through lung design avoids this problem. (Sharks & some fish use a form of this design. But it requires that you never stop moving, or you suffocate.) We could design a flow-through lung that works on the same pattern as the flow-through heart. A chamber (or, perhaps more efficiently, a few in series), with muscled walls to contract them, and valves at the ports to force the flow to be one-way. Then we could breathe without constantly having to move. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2013, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bigger-nose-more-air/675062/7 "2013-11-30T04:52:56Z")
> [@t-bonham@scc.net](#): > > P.S. There are more efficient designs possible for lungs. Mammalian lungs have to reverse direction about every second, going from breathing-in to breathing-out. A flow-through lung design avoids this problem. (Sharks & some fish use a form of this design. But it requires that you never stop moving, or you suffocate.) [Birds](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birds#Anatomy_and_physiology) have lungs that apparently have the same efficiency advantage without the defect: > [@](#): > > Birds have one of the most complex respiratory systems of all animal groups.[52] Upon inhalation, 75% of the fresh air bypasses the lungs and flows directly into a posterior air sac which extends from the lungs and connects with air spaces in the bones and fills them with air. The other 25% of the air goes directly into the lungs. When the bird exhales, the used air flows out of the lung and the stored fresh air from the posterior air sac is simultaneously forced into the lungs. Thus, a bird’s lungs receive a constant supply of fresh air during both inhalation and exhalation.