Heart

Douglas Wilkin, Ph.D.

Jean Brainard, Ph.D.
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Printed: June 16, 2014
AUTHORS
Douglas Wilkin, Ph.D.
Jean Brainard, Ph.D.
www.ck12.org Chapter 1. Heart
CHAPTER
1
Heart
Explain how the heart pumps blood throughout the body.
Whats the most active muscle in the body?
The human heart. An absolutely remarkable organ. Obviously, its main function is to pump blood throughout the
body. And it does this extremely well. On average, this muscular organ will beat about 100,000 times in one day and
about 35 million times in a year. During an average lifetime, the human heart will beat more than 2.5 billion times.
The Circulatory System
The circulatory system can be compared to a system of interconnected, one-way roads that range from superhigh-
ways to back alleys. Like a network of roads, the job of the circulatory system is to allow the transport of materials
from one place to another. As described in Figure 1.1, the materials carried by the circulatory system include
hormones, oxygen, cellular wastes, and nutrients from digested food. Transport of all these materials is necessary to
maintain homeostasis of the body. The main components of the circulatory system are the heart, blood vessels, and
blood.
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FIGURE 1.1
The function of the circulatory system is
to move materials around the body.
The Heart
The heart is a muscular organ in the chest. It consists mainly of cardiac muscle tissue and pumps blood through
blood vessels by repeated, rhythmic contractions. The heart has four chambers, as shown in Figure 1.2: two upper
atria (singular, atrium) and two lower ventricles. Valves between chambers keep blood owing through the heart
in just one direction.
Blood Flow Through the Heart
Blood ows through the heart in two separate loops, which are indicated by the arrows in Figure 1.2. You can also
watch an animation of the heart pumping blood at this link: http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/dci/Diseases/hhw/hhw
_pumping.html .
1. Blood from the body enters the right atrium of the heart. The right atrium pumps the blood to the right
ventricle, which pumps it to the lungs. This loop is represented by the blue arrows in Figure 1.2.
2. Blood from the lungs enters the left atrium of the heart. The left atrium pumps the blood to the left ventricle,
which pumps it to the body. This loop is represented by the red arrows in Figure 1.2.
Heartbeat
Unlike skeletal muscle, cardiac muscle contracts without stimulation by the nervous system. Instead, specialized
cardiac muscle cells send out electrical impulses that stimulate the contractions. As a result, the atria and ventricles
normally contract with just the right timing to keep blood pumping efciently through the heart. You can watch
an animation to see how this happens at this link: http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/dci/Diseases/hhw/hhw_electrical.
html .
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FIGURE 1.2
The chambers of the heart and the valves
between them are shown here.
Summary
The heart contracts rhythmically to pump blood to the lungs and the rest of the body.
Specialized cardiac muscle cells trigger the contractions.
Practice I
Use this resource to answer the questions that follow.
http://www.hippocampus.org/Biology Biology for AP* Search: Vertebrate Circulatory Systems
1. What is a heart?
2. What are the two chambers of the heart?
3. What is a septum?
4. Describe the mammalian heart. What effect does this have on blood pressure?
Practice II
Human Heart Quiz at http://www.neok12.com/quiz/CIRSYS04
Review
1. Describe how blood ows through the heart.
2. What controls heartbeat?
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References
1. Sansculotte, modied by CK-12 Foundation. . CC-BY-SA-2.5
2. Wapcaplet, modied by Yaddah. The direction of blood ow through the heart. GNU-FDL 1.2
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