Anatomy For Beginners (part 2) - Getting Pumped... Ladies and Gentlemen I Give You the Heart.
Posted: Friday, April 24, 2009
by Connor Davidson
If you have not read the last part and want to click here.
Welcome back stranger. Enjoy your trip through the digestive system? Well, anyway its time to have a look at the organ that gets everything moving.
Here are some simplified diagrams so you can see what I am talking about. Notice how left is right and right is left on the diagram. It is not a mistake – that is the correct way to draw the diagrams; as the heart is taken out of the person from the back.
The heart pumps blood by a series of timed contractions. The blood is pumped through two circuits. The first is to the lungs to collect oxygen and the other circuit (with oxygen) goes to the other body parts. This is why the heart is often called a double pump.
The heart is in four parts- you can think of them as quarters. The top two parts are the left and right atria (plural of atrium) and the bottom two parts are the left and right ventricles. Notice between the ventricle (bottom chamber) and the atrium (top chamber) there is what looks like a divide. These are called valves and regulate follow – ensures blood flows round the right way.
When blood enters the heart it moves into one of the two atria. The valve opens letting blood into the ventricle bellow; the valve must then close to stop blood flowing backwards and the ventricle contracts pumping blood through one of the vessels attached to the heart.
- Pulmonary vein: brings blood to the left atrium
- Pulmonary artery: right ventricle to lungs.
- Aorta: takes blood to the body.
- Superior Vena Cava & Inferior Vena Cava: takes blood to body to the right atrium.
- Pulmonary artery: right ventricle to lungs.
Finally, the coronary artery supplies the heart muscle with food and oxygen
Well folks that's basically how the heart works. I will soon get the next part up and soon you will be an expert on human anatomy.
What to learn more about anatomy? If so click here to read part 3.
Connor Davidson is a UK based writer. He writes on wide variety of topics with his main interest being science, maths and engineering.
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Feel free to reprint these articles on your website by using the reprint button. If you have any questions or comments please post them below - I read all comments.
You can keep up to date with his writings by following him on twitter or Google+
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Top-level comments on this article: (5 total)Connor, Very well done! It is clear you spent a good amount of time putting this together for your reader. I felt like I was in anatomy 101.Blessings!TeresaI enjoy making complex things simple.Thanks for the comment.
Very informative, and easy to understand. Nice diagrams too!Brilliant article, Connor, keep it up!Thanks for the comment.
You make the whole thing sound simple and easy to understand. But isn't it amazing just how each part of the body works together to keep us going?Thanks for this article.It is amazing. The more you read into anatomy the more amazing it is.Thanks for the comment.
Thanks Connor,I'm always open to new information! Thanks for sharing this with us.Thanks for the comment.Catchy column title, Connor. I like it (smile).Thanks. It is an improvement over jack of all trades.
Useful information for anyone searching for this topic, however it didn't grab my attention as someone who was simply reading the article for this "reader's club" I suppose it all depends on who is reading it to whether or not it is relevant or interesting :)G'day. OK I see your point not every article appeals to everyone. But did you like the article when you read it?
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