how heart muscle functions

• Heart - The organ that pumps (pushes) blood round our body

  • Double pump because the right-side pumps blood to the lungs and the left-side pumps blood to the body, blood flows through the heart twice
• Coronary artery - The blood vessel that supplies the heart muscle cells with oxygen
• The muscle wall of the left ventricle is thicker than the right ventricle

  • This allows the left ventricle to contract with more force so the blood is pushed at the high pressure needed to pump it round the body
• The path of blood through the heart:

  1. Blood enters the right atrium through the vena cava
• Vena cava - A vein that brings deoxygenated blood back to the heart from the body
• The path of blood through the heart:

  2. Blood will then travel from the right atrium into the right ventricle

  • The atrioventricular (AV) valve will then close to prevent backflow
• The path of blood through the heart:

  3. When the right ventricle contracts, deoxygenated blood is forced through into the pulmonary artery which travels to the lungs to pick up oxygen
• The path of blood through the heart:

  4. This newly oxygenated blood is returned to the heart by the pulmonary vein into the left atrium
• The path of blood through the heart:

  5. Blood flows into the left ventricle, the Atrioventricular (AV) Valve closes to prevent backflow
• The path of blood through the heart:

  6. The left ventricle pumps oxygenated blood around the body via the aorta