Heart

Created by
Rana and Sandeep
 Introduction
• Heart, in anatomy, hollow muscular organ that
pumps blood through the body. The heart, blood,
and blood vessels make up the circulatory system,
which is responsible for distributing oxygen and
nutrients to the body and carrying away carbon
dioxide and other waste products. The heart is
the circulatory system’s power supply. It must
beat ceaselessly because the body’s tissues—
especially the brain and the heart itself—depend
on a constant supply of oxygen and nutrients
delivered by the flowing blood. If the heart stops
pumping blood for more than a few minutes, death
will result.
 Heart
The human heart is shaped like an upside-down
pear and is located slightly to the left of center
inside the chest cavity. About the size of a closed
fist, the heart is made primarily of muscle tissue
that contracts rhythmically to propel blood to all
parts of the body. This rhythmic contraction
begins in the developing embryo about three
weeks after conception and continues throughout
an individual’s life. The muscle rests only for a
fraction of a second between beats. Over a typical
life span of 76 years, the heart will beat nearly
2.8 billion times and move 169 million liters (179
million quarts) of blood.
 Heart
Since prehistoric times people have had a
sense of the heart’s vital importance. Cave
paintings from 20,000 years ago depict a
stylized heart inside the outline of hunted
animals such as bison and elephant. The
ancient Greeks believed the heart was the
seat of intelligence. Others believed the
heart to be the source of the soul or of the
emotions—an idea that persists in popular
culture and various verbal expressions,
such as heartbreak, to the present day.
 Structure of Heart
The human heart has four chambers. The
upper two chambers, the right and left
atria, are receiving chambers for blood.
The atria are sometimes known as
auricles. They collect blood that pours in
from veins, blood vessels that return blood
to the heart. The heart’s lower two
chambers, the right and left ventricles, are
the powerful pumping chambers. The
ventricles propel blood into arteries, blood
vessels that carry blood away from the
heart.
Structure of Heart
 Structure of Heart…
A wall of tissue separates the right and left
sides of the heart. Each side pumps blood
through a different circuit of blood vessels:
The right side of the heart pumps oxygen-
poor blood to the lungs, while the left side
of the heart pumps oxygen-rich blood to
the body. Blood returning from a trip
around the body has given up most of its
oxygen and picked up carbon dioxide in
the body’s tissues. This oxygen-poor blood
feeds into two large veins, the superior
vena cava and inferior vena cava, which
empty into the right atrium of the heart.
 …Structure of Heart
The right atrium conducts blood to the right
ventricle, and the right ventricle pumps blood into
the pulmonary artery. The pulmonary artery
carries the blood to the lungs, where it picks up a
fresh supply of oxygen and eliminates carbon
dioxide. The blood, now oxygen-rich, returns to
the heart through the pulmonary veins, which
empty into the left atrium. Blood passes from the
left atrium into the left ventricle, from where it is
pumped out of the heart into the aorta, the
body’s largest artery. Smaller arteries that branch
off the aorta distribute blood to various parts of
the body.
 Heart Valves
Four valves within the heart prevent blood from flowing
backward in the heart. The valves open easily in the
direction of blood flow, but when blood pushes against the
valves in the opposite direction, the valves close. Two
valves, known as atrioventricular valves, are located
between the atria and ventricles. The right atrioventricular
valve is formed from three flaps of tissue and is called the
tricuspid valve. The left atrioventricular valve has two flaps
and is called the bicuspid or mitral valve. The other two
heart valves are located between the ventricles and
arteries. They are called semilunar valves because they
each consist of three half-moon-shaped flaps of tissue. The
right semi lunar valve, between the right ventricle and
pulmonary artery, is also called the pulmonary valve. The
left semilunar valve, between the left ventricle and aorta, is
also called the aortic valve.
 Functions of heart
The heart’s duties are much broader than
simply pumping blood continuously
throughout life. The heart must also
respond to changes in the body’s demand
for oxygen. The heart works very
differently during sleep, for example, than
in the middle of a 5-km (3-mi) run.
Moreover, the heart and the rest of the
circulatory system can respond almost
instantaneously to shifting situations—
when a person stands up or lies down, for
example, or when a person is faced with a
potentially dangerous situation.
 A. Cardiac Cycle
Although the right and left halves of the heart are
separate, they both contract in unison, producing
a single heartbeat. The sequence of events from
the beginning of one heartbeat to the beginning
of the next is called the cardiac cycle. The cardiac
cycle has two phases: diastole, when the heart’s
chambers are relaxed, and systole, when the
chambers contract to move blood. During the
systolic phase, the atria contract first, followed by
contraction of the ventricles. This sequential
contraction ensures efficient movement of blood
from atria to ventricles and then into the arteries.
If the atria and ventricles contracted
simultaneously, the heart would not be able to
move as much blood with each beat.
 B. Generation of heart beat
Unlike most muscles, which rely on
nerve impulses to cause them to
contract, heart muscle can contract
of its own accord. Certain heart
muscle cells have the ability to
contract spontaneously, and these
cells generate electrical signals that
spread to the rest of the heart and
cause it to contract with a regular,
steady beat.
 C. Control of heart beat
In an adult, resting heart rate is normally about
70 beats per minute. However, the heart can beat
up to three times faster—at more than 200 beats
per minute—when a person is exercising
vigorously. Younger people have faster resting
heart rates than adults do. The normal heart rate
is about 120 beats per minute in infants and
about 100 beats per minute in young children.
Many athletes, by contrast, often have relatively
slow resting heart rates because physical training
makes the heart stronger and enables it to pump
the same amount of blood with fewer beats. An
athlete’s resting heart rate may be only 40 to 60
beats per minute.
 Cardiac output
To determine overall heart function, doctors
measure cardiac output, the amount of blood
pumped by each ventricle in one minute. Cardiac
output is equal to the heart rate multiplied by the
stroke volume, the amount of blood pumped by a
ventricle with each beat. Stroke volume, in turn,
depends on several factors: the rate at which
blood returns to the heart through the veins; how
vigorously the heart contracts; and the pressure
of blood in the arteries, which affects how hard
the heart must work to propel blood into them.
Normal cardiac output in an adult is about 3 liters
per minute per square meter of body surface.
 Ok
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Take care of your Heart

SK Rana Sandeep Kapil

Science Master Math Master

Govt. Model High School Govt. Model High School

Talwara Talwara