Heart Essay (Oxygenation)
The heart is your most vital organ and its main job is to pump blood throughout your body. The heart’s job is to replace deoxygenated blood for oxygenated blood. This is a very complicated process that has many pieces working together simultaneously. Starting with deoxygenated blood in the superior vena cava going all the way to the aorta I will begin to illustrate how the oxygenation process occurs.
The start of the process begins with the Pulmonary Circuit which begins with deoxygenated blood flowing back to the heart through the superior and inferior vena cava. This blood then empties into the right atrium of the heart. Once the right atrium of the heart fills up with deoxygenated blood the right atrium contracts while the chordae tendineae pull on the tricuspid valve, opening it for blood to flow down into the left ventricle. Once the left ventricle fills up with blood the chordae tendineae pull the tricuspid valve shut and the left ventricle contracts pushing the blood through the pulmonary artery. Once the blood pushes through the pulmonary artery the pulmonary semilunar valve shuts so that no blood falls backwards into the heart. The blood then flows into the pulmonary trunk and into the lungs. Finally, the lungs supply the blood with the oxygen that it needs and the blood is then on its way back...
