Ventilation-Perfusion Matching Lab

Efficient gas exchange needs two things present at the very same alveolus at the very same time: fresh air (ventilation) and flowing blood (perfusion). This lab splits a simplified lung into five independent regions, each with its own ventilation and perfusion slider, and renders the live airflow (blue) and blood flow (red→pink) reaching each one in 3D. Try the presets: "Well-matched" spreads the same total air and blood evenly so every region pairs them locally and gas exchange is efficient; "Mismatched" keeps the exact same totals but redistributes them so some regions are ventilation-heavy while others are perfusion-heavy — and overall efficiency collapses even though total ventilation and total perfusion never changed.