The Heart

    The heart is part of the human body's circulatory system. The blood flows in circles, around the body through the veins. Once circle is from the heart to the lungs and near to the heart, and the other circle rotates the blood around farther away from the heart. Every muscle and vein in your body needs oxygen-filled blood to stay alive.

 
    The heart is like a big factory filled with pumps to pump the blood around the body. One fourth of the body's blood goes to the brain. The brain needs plenty of blood to keep on going, working for your benifits. The heart pushes the blood at an average 16 inches per second through the veins. It takes around 2 minutes for the blood to go from the brain to the feet.
 

    If you weigh 90 pounds, then your blood weighs around 7 pounds. There are many different parts of the heart. The pulmonary artery carries the oxygen filled blood from the heart to the lungs. Pulmonary veins carry the blood back to the heart too. The Aorta, or main artery, carrys blood from the heart to the organs and back. There is a part of the called the Pericardium too. It is a kind of skin that sort of protects the heart.
 

    The part of the heart called the Right Ventrical pushes the blood to the pulmonary vein. The Coronary Arteries give the blood to the heart muscle, to keep it moving. There are many other parts of the heart, including the Pulmonic Valve, the Right artrium, the Left Artrium, the Mitral Valve, the Left Ventrical, and the Triscupid valve.

 
    Did you know that the dinosoar Brachiosaurus had a heart the size of a pick-up truck? Did you know that that reptiles and fish don't have any heart chambers like we do? You probably didn't know either of those things, so you should find out more about the heart.

 

Bibliography 

Egan, Lorraine Hopping. "Kids Discover Magazine." Volume 6, Issue 10, May 1996 pg1-19
 
 

 

                          Updated November 19, 1998 by Mark