HURDCO International School

Grade- VII
Subject- Biology
Topic: The Heart (4.05)
 The Heart
• Location: The heart lies in the • The whole heart is surrounded by a
thorax behind the chest bone two layered bag called pericardium,
(sternum) and between the two and the inner membrane is being
lungs. contact with the heart.
 The Heart
Structure:
• The heart is made up of
cardiac muscle.
• The heart has its own blood
supply, carried by the coronary
blood
vessels. These tubes
carry food and oxygen to the
heart and carry wastes away.
 Structure of the heart
• Chambers: The heart has four chambers:
• The upper two chambers are called atria(singular
atrium) which has thinner walls than the
ventricles and
• The two lower large chambers known as
ventricles.
• The right ventricle pumps blood to the lungs and
the left ventricle has the thickest muscle to pumps
blood to all parts of the body, except the lungs.
• The right side of the heart is completely separated
from the left side by means of muscular wall
known as the median septum.
 Structure of the heart
• Veins: a) superior venacava: the
deoxygenated blood from the head, neck
and arms is returned to the right atrium by a
large vein called superior venacava.
• b) Inferior venacava: Blood from other parts
of the body ( excluding the lungs) is brought
back by the inferior venacava, to the right
atrium.
• Arteries: Aorta: The large blood vessels
which receives the oxygenated blood from
the left ventricle is called aorta.
 Structure of the heart
• Valves: These stop blood flowing backwards
through the heart.
• a) Tricuspid valve: Present in between the right
atrium and right ventricle. It has three flaps.
• b) Bicuspid valve: present between the left
atrium and left ventricle. It has two flaps.
• c) Semilunar valve: These are half moon
shaped valves. There are two pairs of them.
One pair is present in between right ventricle
and the pulmonary artery. Another pair is in
between the left ventricle and aorta.
• Tendons: The fibrous string Which hold the
valve flaps in place are called tendons.
 Structure of the heart
• Pulmonary vessels:
• Pulmonary arteries:
They carry deoxygenated
blood from the right
ventricles to the lungs.
• Pulmonary veins: They
carry oxygenated blood
from the lungs to the left
atrium.
How the heart pumps blood
• The heart pumps blood by contracting. That makes it smaller so blood
get squeezed out into the arteries. Then it relaxes again, and fills up
with the blood from the veins.
1. When the atria are relaxed, both sides fill with blood from the veins.
2. Then the atria contract. The veins also contract where they join atria.
So the blood is forced into the ventricles through the valves.
3. A fraction of a second later, the ventricles contract. The valves
between the atria and ventricles closed. So the blood squeezed into
the arteries.
4. The heart relaxes again and fills up with blood.
 How the heart pumps blood

• One complete contraction and relaxation is called a heartbeat. It takes less

than a second. Each beat pumps out a cupful of blood. The heart usually
beats around 70 times a minute when we are resting.
 Pacemaker
• A pacemaker is a small device that's placed
under the skin in our chest to help control
our heartbeat. It's used to help
our heart beat more regularly if we have an
irregular heartbeat (arrhythmia), particularly
a slow one. Implanting a pacemaker in our
chest requires a surgical procedure.
• The pacemaker is battery operated and
small enough to be inserted under the skin.
It sends shocks to the heart muscle through
wires.
 Pacemaker
• It is an electronic device which can be
used instead of heart’s own built-in
pacemaker if this stops working after a
heart attack.
• Both pacemakers keep the heart beating
by sending tiny, regular electric shocks
through the heart muscle.
• The heart’s own pacemaker is a bundle
of special muscle found in the wall of
the right atrium near the opening of the
main vein.
 Questions
1) What is the heart made of?
2) What are the upper parts of the heart called?.
3) Which ventricles has the thickest walls?
4) What stops blood flowing backwards through the heart?
5) What are valve tendons for?
6) What are coronary arteries and veins for?
7) What happens when the atria contract?
8) What happens when the ventricles contract?
9) What is a heart beat?
10)What is the heart’s own pacemaker? What is the function of electronic
pacemaker?