The heart
| English | Chinese | Pinyin |
|---|---|---|
| atria | 心房 | xīn fáng |
| ventricles | 心室 | xīn shì |
| deoxygenated | 脱氧的 | tuō yǎng de |
| oxygenated | 含氧的 | hán yǎng de |
| valves | 瓣膜 | bàn mó |
The pump that never rests
- Your heart beats about 100,000 times a day, pushing blood around your whole body.
- It is a muscular double pump with four chambers.
The upper chambers of the heart that receive blood are the:
Atria receive; ventricles pump.
The right side of the heart pumps blood to the:
Right side → lungs (deoxygenated blood); left side → body.
The lower chambers that pump blood out of the heart are the ______.
Ventricles pump; atria receive.
Four chambers
- Two upper atria 心房 receive blood; two lower ventricles 心室 pump it out.
- The right side handles deoxygenated 脱氧的 blood (to lungs); the left side handles oxygenated 含氧的 blood (to body).
The heart has four chambers; the left ventricle wall is thickest because it pumps to the whole body
Blood flow through the heart
The four chambers and their valves keep blood moving one way — deoxygenated to the lungs, oxygenated to the body.
The valves of the heart:
Valves ensure one-way flow.
Valves 瓣膜 keep blood one-way
- Valves between the chambers and in the vessels stop blood flowing backwards.
- They make a "lub-dub" sound as they snap shut.
The heart (double circulation)
Follow the blood: blue comes back from the body, the right side pumps it to the lungs (it turns red), and the left side pumps it out to the body — a double circulation.
The left ventricle has a thicker muscular wall than the right.
It pumps blood to the whole body at high pressure.
The left side works hardest
- The left ventricle has a thicker muscular wall than the right.
- It must push blood all the way around the body, at high pressure.
The left ventricle is thicker, not bigger in volume. Both ventricles pump the same volume, but the left has a much thicker muscle wall because it pumps blood to the whole body, not just the nearby lungs.
You've got it
- the heart has four chambers: two atria (receive) and two ventricles (pump)
- the right side serves the lungs; the left side serves the body
- valves prevent backflow; the left ventricle has the thickest wall