How+the+Heart+Works-+PK

media type="file" key="theheartpk.mov"


 * //__How the Heart Pumps Blood__// by Patricia Kelley**




 * General Information:**

- The heart is larger than your closed fist. The heart's purpose is to pump oxygen and nutrients to every cell in your body.

//Fun Facts://


 * Every day your heart expands and contracts 100,000 times and pumps over 2,000 gallons of blood.
 * Within 70 years, the average human heart beats more than 2.5 billion times an pumps about 1 million barrels of blood.
 * If every blood vessel was laid out end-to-end, it would be large enough to extend for about 60,000 miles which is far enough to encircle the earth more than twice.




 * The Passage of Blood through the Heart**

//To the Lungs....// 1. The deoxygenated blood flows from the **superior vena cava** and the **inferior vena cava** into the right atrium. 2. The blood is sent by the right atrium though the **atrioventricular** valve and into the right ventricle. a. The *LUB* sound is the **atrioventricular** valve between the right atrium and the right ventricle shutting. 3. The right ventricle sends blood through the **pulmonary semilunar valve** and then into **the pulmonary trunk.** **The pulmonary trunk** divides into two pulmonary arteries which carries the deoxygenated blood into the heart.



//To the Rest of the Body....// 1. Four **pulmonary veins** carry the oxygenated blood into the left atrium. 2. The left atrium sends blood through an **atrioventricular valve** into the left ventricle. a.The *DUB* sound is the **atrioventricular** valve between the left atrium and the left ventricle 3. The left ventricle then sends the blood through the **aortic semiluar valve** into the aorta to the rest of the body.

Resources: http://heartdisease.about.com/cs/starthere/a/chambersvalves.htm

http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/dci/Diseases/heartmurmur/hmurmur_heartworks.html