Assertion : The alveoli provide a surface where the exchange of gases can take place.

Reason :  In human beings, the respiratory pigment is haemoglobin which has a very high affinity for oxygen. 

Both A and R are true but R is not the correct explanation of A.

The correct answer is Option (2) –Both A and R are true but R is not the correct explanation of A.

Within the lungs, the passage divides into smaller and smaller tubes which finally terminate in balloon-like structures which are called alveoli (singular–alveolus). The alveoli provide a surface where the exchange of gases can take place. The walls of the alveoli contain an extensive network of blood-vessels. As we have seen in earlier years, when we breathe in, we lift our ribs and flatten our diaphragm, and the chest cavity becomes larger as a result. Because of this, air is sucked into the lungs and fills the expanded alveoli. 

When the body size of animals is large, the diffusion pressure alone cannot take care of oxygen delivery to all parts of the body. Instead, respiratory pigments take up oxygen from the air in the lungs and carry it to tissues which are deficient in oxygen before releasing it. In human beings, the respiratory pigment is haemoglobin which has a very high affinity for oxygen. This pigment is present in the red blood corpuscles. Carbon dioxide is more soluble in water than oxygen is and hence is mostly transported in the dissolved form in our blood.