Questions and Answers
What is the approximate number of times the heart beats in a lifetime?
What is the function of the valves in the heart?
What is the direction of blood flow through the heart valves?
Where does oxygen-poor blood from the body flow into?
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What is the sound produced by the heart valves opening and closing?
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Where does the oxygen-poor blood return to after being used by the body?
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What is the function of the valve in the heart that the blood passes through after picking up oxygen from the lungs?
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What does the phrase 'Be Ready to Read Long Love Letters' help you remember?
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What happens to the blood after it passes through the left ventricle?
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Where does the blood initially pick up oxygen from?
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Study Notes
Heart Structure
- The heart is approximately the size of a fist and beats around 2.5 billion times in a lifetime.
- It is composed of several smaller parts, including chambers and valves, which work together to pump blood.
Chambers
- The heart has four chambers, similar to rooms in a house, with two chambers sitting atop the other two.
- The upper chambers are the atria, and the bottom chambers are the ventricles.
- There is a right atrium and ventricle, as well as a left atrium and ventricle.
Valves
- The chambers are separated by valves, which control the flow of blood from one chamber to another and to the rest of the body.
- Valves open and close, making a noise similar to 'lub-DUB', which is the sound of the heartbeat.
- Heart valves only open in one direction, directing the flow of blood through the heart.
Function and One-Way Blood Flow
- Blood has two forms: oxygen-poor and oxygen-rich.
- Oxygen-poor blood from the body flows into the right atrium, then passes through a valve into the right ventricle.
- The right ventricle pumps the blood through another valve to the lungs, where it picks up oxygen.
- The oxygen-rich blood returns to the left atrium, then passes through another valve to the left ventricle.
- The left ventricle pumps the oxygen-rich blood out to the rest of the body.
- The cycle starts again with the oxygen-poor blood returning to the heart.
- A helpful way to remember the blood flow cycle is with the phrase 'Be Ready to Read Long Love Letters', which represents the sequence: Body, Right atrium, Right ventricle, Lungs, Left atrium, Left ventricle, and back to the Body.
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Description
Learn about the anatomy of the heart, its size, and the function of its four chambers: atria and ventricles.