Heart Dissection
The heart is a fist sized muscular organ that pumps blood around the body. It is very muscular and has fat surrounding the arteries and veins that provide oxygen to itself(see fig1). The aorta is the main artery that provides blood to the major organs in te body. It is large, thick and muscular in order to pump blood at a high pressure. If this artery was to clot most of the organs would not be able to get the oxygen they need to function and the would eventually shut down.
You can tell the left side from the right because the left side is thicker and if you put your finger down the aorta it will flow into the left ventricle (see fig2). The muscles at the top of the heart are thinner then the muscles at the bottom of the heart so the bottom muscles can pump blood at a high pressure. The top muscles don't need to be as strong because they are recieving blood. All the major vessels (aorta, pulmonary artery) are quite large but the arteries are thicker then the veins. Deoxygenated blood bleaves the right ventricle in an artery and travels to the lungs. Here, the blood collects oxygen, so it is now oxygenated. The blood travels back to the heart via a vein. The aorta needs to be thick to pump blood around the body at a high pressure to all the major organs. The vena cava isn't as thick as the aorta as it is bringing deoxygenated blood back back to the heart. The vena cava connects to the right atrium and the blood exits the heart through the pulmonary artery. When blood comes in the pulmonary vein it exits the heart through the aorta. Inside the heart there are little stringy peices of tissue. They are called valves (see fig3) and they direct the blood flow so there is no mixing of oxygenated blood and deoxygenated blood. |
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