• Question: why is your heart so weirdly shaped

    Asked by anon-178517 to Emma, Jordan, Kate, Lucy, Pankaj, Samuel on 19 Jun 2018.
    • Photo: Jordan Moir

      Jordan Moir answered on 19 Jun 2018:


      The heart is shaped so weirdly but in terms of a scientist so perfectly as it is required to be in this formation to allow its functionality as a double pump to pump blood around the body. The heart is a complex organ which can do incredible things and pumps blood without us even thinking about it. The weird shape occurs by the walls of the heart being of different thicknesses within each section of the heart to help force the blood around the body. It also has vessels around the heart to help supply the heart with oxygen itself to keep it alive and functioning correctly. The heart is split into 4 sections which have valves which control the flow of blood through the heart. But yes the heart does look a bit different from the love heart emoji.

    • Photo: Lucy Green

      Lucy Green answered on 19 Jun 2018:


      can’t add to that except to say that it starts as pretty much a simple tube and develops according to what it needs to do… weird…

    • Photo: Samuel Vennin

      Samuel Vennin answered on 19 Jun 2018:


      Science tells you that your heart is shaped so weirdly because that is the shape that works best for what it has to do (i.e., pumping blood into your body).
      I think you should also know that the heart is surrounded by a muscle called the myocardium that is made of fibers. If you take all those fibers, they look a bit like like a ball of wool cats would play with. When the heart contracts, it is a bit like when you are spining a tissue to make it dry and all those fibers are torned in the same direction. This also affect the overall shape of the heart.

Comments