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# The Heart The heart is a muscular pump, composed of a specific type of muscle, the cardiac muscle. The muscle fibers of the myocardium connect to allow for synchronized contractions (Figures 3.2 and 3.3). The human heart has four chambers: two atria with thin walls, located at the top, and two...

# The Heart The heart is a muscular pump, composed of a specific type of muscle, the cardiac muscle. The muscle fibers of the myocardium connect to allow for synchronized contractions (Figures 3.2 and 3.3). The human heart has four chambers: two atria with thin walls, located at the top, and two ventricles with thicker walls, located at the bottom. The ventricles are separated by the interventricular septum, and the atria by the interatrial septum (Figure 3.4). There is no direct communication between the atria and ventricles. The left ventricle has thicker walls than the right, as it pumps blood throughout the entire body. Between the atria and ventricles, there are valves that ensure one-way blood flow during each contraction. The heart is both a suction pump and a pressure pump. It acts as a suction pump to collect blood from the body's capillaries through veins. It is a pressure pump that pushes blood to the body's capillaries through arteries. In the right atrium, deoxygenated blood from the body arrives, rich in carbon dioxide. In the left atrium, oxygenated blood from the lungs arrives. When the atria contract, blood flows to the ventricles. Then, the ventricles contract, pushing blood into the arteries. The image also includes a diagram of the heart's structure with labels such as "myocardial fiber", "mitochondria", and "nucleus".