Biology Unit 3 Revision Year 8

3.1 The Heart

Heart
Location - located in the chest, slightly to left of your sternum and the rib cage protects the heart
Size - about the same size as clenched fist
Function - to pump the blood throughout the body.
Structure- made up with very strong muscle.

Structure of the heart

❖ Two sides - left side and right side
❖ 4 Chambers - upper two chambers( atrium/auricles) and lower two chambers ( ventricles)
❖ Artery to lungs - arise from the right ventricle
❖ Artery to body - arise from left ventricle
❖ Vein from body - join to right atrium
❖ Vein from lungs - join to left atrium
❖ Valves
- Tricuspid valve - located between the right atrium and right ventricle
- Bicuspid valve( Mitral) - located between the left atrium and left ventricle
- Function of valves - allow the blood to flow from upper chamber to lower chamber. The
valves only let the blood flow out, not back into the heart.
How the heart works
The heart is made up with muscle. The heart works by the contraction and relaxation of the
muscle. When the muscle contracts, it gets shorter and squeezes the walls of the heart inwards.
This pushes blood out of the heart.
What happens during one heartbeat
- The heart muscle contracts, pushing blood out from the heart into the arteries.
- The heart muscle relaxes, allowing blood to flow into the heart from the veins.
 3.3 Blood
Plasma
Plasma is the liquid part of the blood. It is mostly water. It has a pale yellow-coloured fluid
and contains many different substances dissolved in it.
Function : Blood clotting, fighting infections and transporting substances.
For example, sugar is transported around the body dissolved in the blood plasma. The sugar
is absorbed into the blood in the small intestine and is carried all over the body to the cells
that need to use it for energy.
Red blood cells (RBCs = erythrocytes)
Structure : small, biconcave circular discs without nuclei. They are red because they contain
a red pigment called haemoglobin.
Function : to deliver oxygen to the tissue in your body.
How does oxygen diffusion take place in and out from the blood
❖ When blood flows through the lungs, oxygen diffuses into the blood. The oxygen
combines with the haemoglobin inside the red blood cells and becomes
oxyhaemoglobin. That is a very bright red.
❖ When the blood flows through the body tissues, the oxygen separates from the
haemoglobin. The oxygen diffuses out from the red blood cells and gets into the
tissues. The oxyhaemoglobin becomes haemoglobin again. This is a dull blueish-red.

White blood cells (WBCs=leucocytes)

Structure: They are larger than red blood cells. They are flexible, round and can change
shape. They have a nucleus.
Function : help to defend against bacteria and viruses that get into the body.
How do the WBCs defend the bacteria
➔ Some kinds of white blood cells put out fingers to capture the bacterium. Then they
produces enzymes that kill and digest the bacterium
➔ Other white blood cells produce special molecules called antibodies that attach to the
bacteria and kill them.
Platelets
Structure : They are little fragments of cells. They are small with no nuclei.

Function : When a blood vessel gets damaged, they help the blood to clot and seal the
wound.
 3.4 Blood vessels
Three main kinds of blood vessels
● Arteries carry blood away from the heart
● Veins carry blood back to the heart
● Capillaries connect the arteries to the veins. They carry blood close to every tissue in the
body.
Arteries
● Structure : very thick, strong and elastic walls.
● They need to be strong because they have to withstand the strong forces as the heart
pumps blood through them.
● Their elastic walls are able to expand and spring back as the blood surges through.
That is why you can feel your pulse.
Capillaries
● They are very tiny. The smallest blood vessels that can only be seen with a
microscope.
● They are just big enough to allow the red blood cells to get through them.
● They have thin walls as they are made up of only one layer of cells. That is why
substances, oxygen and sugar, can easily get out.
● Function : to supply cells with things that they need, and take away their waste
products.
Veins
● They are similar size to arteries
● They have thinner walls and the space inside them is larger.
● Veins do not need thick walls because by the time blood flows into the veins it has lost
most of the force that the heart gave it.
● They don’t need very elastic walls because the blood is flowing smoothly rather than
in surges.
● Veins contain valves, which only let the blood flow one way - towards the heart.