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Heart
A muscular pump
Divided into two sides
Right side - deoxygenated
Left side oxygenated
Both sides of the heart squeeze putting
blood under pressure
Pressure forces blood along the arteries
Tips
If you are asked how the pressure in the arteries
is produced, you need to explain that it is due to
the contraction of the left ventricle walls
When memorising the parts of the heart,
remember veins take blood towards the heart,
arteries take blood from the heart- pulmonary
means lung and vena cava means main vein
So pulmonary artery takes blood away from
the heart to the lung. Easy!
At the top of the heart are tubesveins carrying blood to the heart
and arteries carrying blood away
from the heart
The Septum
A wall of muscle
separating the
ventricles from each
other
Ensures that
oxygenated blood
does not mix with
deoxygenated blood
The diagram shows a defect in the
septum often referred to as a hole in
the heart
Blood Pressure
The muscles of each
chamber contract to
create increased
pressure in the blood
The higher the
pressure, the further
the blood can go
Blood Pressure
Atria: the muscle is thin, as not much pressure is needed
to make blood flow into the ventricles
Right ventricle: thicker walls than the atria, but as the
blood is only pumped to the lungs, the pressure is not as
great as that created by the left ventricle. Also, the lungs
have fine capillaries and the alveoli are thin. The
pressure cannot be too high or damage to the capillaries
around the alveoli could result
Left ventricle: 2-3 times thicker than the right ventriclesufficient pressure is needed to pump blood through the
aorta and overcome the resistance of systemic
circulation
Units of Pressure
The SI unit of pressure is
the Pascal, but because
blood pressure used to be
measured with a tube of
mercury whose chemical
symbol is Hg, we still use
mmHg (millimetres of
mercury) as a pressure
measurement