Lia Michos

The Heart

Have you ever wondered how the heart functions? If you take a look inside the body and look deep into the heart you will find a very unique power plant with an assortment of workers. First off the garbage men deliver the waste material from the body through the superior and inferior vena cavas to the tiny but strong body builder in the right atrium. This body builder pumps the blood to the right ventricle after the doorman opens the tricuspid valve. Then the next body builder pumps the blood to the pulmonary artery, which takes the blood to the lungs. The engineers in the pulmonary circuit direct the blood into an oxygen purifier. They filter the waste and make the blood oxygen-rich. This newly purified blood is carried by the pulmonary veins to the body builder in the right atrium. This body builder pumps the blood to the left ventricle after the doorman opens the mitral valve. The body builder in the left ventricle is the strongest of them all and forces the blood to the aorta like bench-pressing 500 pounds. The boatmen sail off with this oxygenated blood taking it to all the cells and organs of the body. Meanwhile we can't forget the electricians who turn on the switch to a powerful generator, the sinus node. Without the electricians none of what the other workers do matter. All of the workers have to work together and have impeccable timing otherwise the power plant will be shut down.