How the Human Heart Works

Posted by Stocktrekimages on January 27th, 2014

From the moment our heart begins beating until the moment it stops, our heart works tirelessly. But do you know how it works? In this article, you will come across the facts and functions about the heart and how it beats. Every day, a human heart beats more than 2.5 billion times sending 2,000 gallons of blood surging through your body.  The heart is a vital organ, which is responsible for pumping blood via a 60,000-mile-long network of vessels. Like any other muscle in our body, the human heart contracts and expands. It is a four-chambered double pump that is situated between the two lungs and slightly to the left of the centre, behind the sternum.

Stocktrek has a broad collection of interactive anatomy pictures and 3D Medical Illustrations. Our online collection of human heart images helps you to discover exactly what you want to know about the human heart, including functions and facts. 

The function of the human heart

The human heart contains four chambers: two atriums and two ventricles. The upper chambers of heart, right and left atrium, receive incoming blood. The lower chambers, right and left ventricle pump blood out of the body.

Right Atrium: The right atrium receives oxygen-depleted blood from the body via the superior and inferior venae cava and pumps it through the tricuspid valve into the right ventricle.

Right Ventricle: The right ventricle receives oxygen-depleted blood from the right atrium and pumps it through the pulmonary valve into the lungs.

Left Atrium: The left atrium receives oxygen-rich blood from the lungs via the pulmonary veins and pumps it to the left ventricle.

Left Ventricle: The left ventricle receives oxygen-rich blood from the left atrium and pumps it through the aortic valve to the entire body.

Facts about the human heart

1. The human heart is roughly the size of a fist.

2. An infants heart beats faster than an adult heart.

3. The heart pumps blood to 75 trillion cells in your body. Only the corneas receive no blood supply.

4. An average human heart weighs 10-12 ounces.

5. The normal heart rate of a male is 72 beats, where as the normal female heart rate is 78 beats.

The structure of the heart makes it a never-ceasing pump. The average heart’s muscles, called cardiac muscles, contracts and relaxes about 70 to 80 times per minute without any break. As the cardiac muscles contract it pushes blood through the chambers and into the vessels. Our body nerves connected to the heart regulate the speed with which the muscle contracts. When you are at rest, your heart beats slowly and when you are in the motion, your heart beats fast.

Stocktrek is a niche provider of high quality images of the human heart, human body anatomy and more. Our healthcare and medicine imagery captures how the human body works from the microscopic beginnings to whole organs and complete body systems. Browse our online gallery at Stocktrek Images.