• Question: How does your heart pump the blood into the veins?

    Asked by anon-178553 to Emma, Jordan, Kate, Lucy, Pankaj, Samuel on 12 Jun 2018.
    • Photo: Samuel Vennin

      Samuel Vennin answered on 12 Jun 2018:

      The heart pumps the blood into arteries that carry the blood to the muscles. The veins are actually very small arteries that carry blood from these muscles back to the heart. See this great video below to better understand the difference between arteries and veins:

      The way heart pumps blood into the arteries is by contracting the muscle surrounding it that is called the myocardium. As it contracts, the heart becomes smaller and ejected blood out. It then relaxes, becomes bigger as it is filled again with new blood. The contraction and relaxation of the myocardium is through an electrical signal that automatically propagates through it. Hope this is clear 🙂

    • Photo: Kate Kuyt

      Kate Kuyt answered on 12 Jun 2018:

      Samuel has answered well but yes with each heart beat the heart contracts (becomes smaller) and blood is pushed from the left ventricle chamber (one of four chambers in the heart), through the aortic value (which is what I study) and out into one big artery called the aorta, this is splits into many other arteries which deliver blood full of oxygen and nutrients all over your body.

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