You may have always wondered: why do people exchange heart-shaped cards on

Valentines Day, or why is the heart the universal symbol for love? Many years ago,
people believed our emotions came from our hearts. However, we now know that our
hearts play a far different role in our body than our ancestors thought, and the
anatomical heart is must more complex in appearance than the heart symbol.

The heart is at the center of a vast and intricate structural system in each one of our
bodies called the circulatory system. As the name implies, the circulatory system is in
charge of the flow, or circulation, of blood throughout the body. The heart works as the
engine providing the power for this transport of blood. It is an extremely strong muscle
about the size of a softball that pumps blood through the entire body as it clenches and
relaxes. It is hard at work every minute of every day, beating at a rate of 60 in 100 beats
per minute.

But why is the circulation of blood throughout our bodies so important? Blood plays a
vital role in the body by transporting oxygen and nutrients to every cell as well as
disposing of the waste products in these cells. The network of blood vessels throughout
the body is basically a pipeline system of cellular tubes. This system is incredibly
extensive; a human body has on average 60,000 miles of blood vessels throughout it.
This means that if your vessels were strung together end to end, they could circle the
Earth over two and a half times.

Each day, 2,000 gallons of blood travel through your vessel pipeline system. But what
makes it move? The pounding you feel or lub-dub beat you hear in your chest is
actually the sound of the valves in your heart
closing as it pumps blood through its chambers.
On average, your heart beats 72 times a minute,
or over 100,000 times a day.

Lets take a closer look at this system of pipes,
starting from the source: the pump station, or in
our case, the heart. Although it appears very
complex, the heart is actually a fairly simple
organ. It is divided into four chambers: two upper
chambers called atria, and two lower ones called
ventricles. (An easy way to remember which is
which is that the letter a comes before the letter
v in the alphabet). The right atrium and right
ventricle are connected by a valve, and the left
atrium and left ventricle are connected by a valve, but these two halves are completely
separated.

This structure is extremely important for the hearts function. If we think about the
circulatory system as a water treatment pipeline system, we can compare our blood
moving through the system and transitioning from oxygen-poor to oxygen-rich to water
moving through a treatment plant and transitioning from contaminated to clean.

Starting on the right side of the heart, blood low in oxygen enters the heart through two
veins from all parts of the body. Throughout our body, veins are the blood vessels that
carry deoxygenated blood. This low-oxygen blood then circulates through the right
atrium and right ventricle, and then is sent out of the heart through the pulmonary artery
to the lungs. Instead of water being purified and treated with chemicals here as they
would be in a treatment pipeline system, in our lungs our blood is cleansed of waste
products like carbon dioxide and treated with oxygen and other nutrients. Interestingly,
the circulatory system is also frequently called the cardiovascular system because of
the important roles played by both the heart and lungs.

This high in oxygen blood is now ready to be circulated throughout the body. After
returning to the heart, but this time to the left side, and flowing through both the left
atrium and ventricle, the oxygen rich blood is sent our through the aorta, which is the
largest artery (or largest vessel carrying oxygen-rich blood away from the heart) in the
body. Through the network of arteries, it is then transported to the rest of the body.

You see, the circulatory system is pretty amazing. So the next time you feel your heart
pounding your chest after a run, or put your hand over your heart when saying the
Pledge of Allegiance, remember your steady, reliable heart pumping blood throughout
your body to keep you alive.




Sources:
http://www.abpischools.org.uk/page/modules/heartandcirculation/heart3.cfm?coSiteNav
igation_allTopic=1

http://www.innerbody.com/image/cardov.html#full-description

http://kidshealth.org/parent/general/body_basics/heart.html

http://kidshealth.org/kid/htbw/heart.html#