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The Human Body: Circulatory System - Structure and functions of the Heart

Grade 5ICSE

Review the key concepts, formulae, and examples before starting your quiz.

🔑Concepts

The Heart is a hollow, muscular organ located in the chest cavity, slightly tilted towards the left. It is roughly the size of a closed fist.

The heart is divided into four chambers: two upper chambers called the Right AtriumRight\ Atrium and Left AtriumLeft\ Atrium, and two lower chambers called the Right VentricleRight\ Ventricle and Left VentricleLeft\ Ventricle.

A thick muscular wall called the SeptumSeptum separates the left side of the heart from the right side to prevent the mixing of oxygenated and deoxygenated blood.

The Right SideRight\ Side of the heart receives deoxygenated blood from the body and pumps it to the lungs for oxygenation.

The Left SideLeft\ Side of the heart receives oxygen-rich (oxygenated) blood from the lungs and pumps it to the rest of the body.

ValvesValves are present between the chambers to ensure that blood flows in only one direction and does not flow backward.

The rhythmic contraction and relaxation of the heart muscles is called a HeartbeatHeartbeat. A normal human heart beats about 728072-80 times per minute.

📐Formulae

Heart Rate=Number of BeatsTime in Minutes\text{Heart Rate} = \frac{\text{Number of Beats}}{\text{Time in Minutes}}

Cardiac Cycle=Contraction (Systole)+Relaxation (Diastole)\text{Cardiac Cycle} = \text{Contraction (Systole)} + \text{Relaxation (Diastole)}

💡Examples

Problem 1:

During a physical education class, Ravi counted his pulse and found it to be 160160 beats in 22 minutes. Calculate his heart rate per minute.

Solution:

The heart rate is 8080 beats per minute.

Explanation:

Using the formula Heart Rate=Total BeatsTotal Time\text{Heart Rate} = \frac{\text{Total Beats}}{\text{Total Time}}, we get 1602=80\frac{160}{2} = 80 beats per minute.

Problem 2:

Identify which chamber of the heart has the thickest muscular walls and explain why.

Solution:

The Left VentricleLeft\ Ventricle has the thickest walls.

Explanation:

The Left VentricleLeft\ Ventricle must pump oxygenated blood to the entire body, which requires a much higher pressure than pumping blood just to the lungs (done by the Right VentricleRight\ Ventricle). Therefore, it has thicker muscular walls to generate that force.