The Heart The normal heart is a strong, muscular pump a little larger than a fist. It pumps blood continuously through the circulatory system.

Heart Facts Each day the average heart "beats" (expands and contracts) 100,000 times and pumps about 2,000 gallons of blood. In a 70-year lifetime, an average human heart beats more than 2.5 billion times.

Arteries The circulatory system is the network of elastic tubes that carries blood throughout the body. It includes the heart, lungs, arteries, arterioles (ar-TE're-olz) (small arteries), and capillaries (KAP'ih-lair"eez) (very tiny blood vessels). These blood vessels carry oxygen- and nutrient-rich blood to all parts of the body

Veins The circulatory system also includes venules (VEN' yoolz) (small veins) and veins. These are the blood vessels that carry oxygen- and nutrient-depleted blood back to the heart and lungs

Veins If all these vessels were laid end-to-end, they'd extend about 60,000 miles. That's enough to encircle the earth more than twice.

Waste The circulating blood brings oxygen and nutrients to all the body's organs and tissues, including the heart itself. It also picks up waste products from the body's cells. These waste products are removed as they're filtered through the kidneys, liver and lungs.

Chambers The heart has four chambers through which blood is pumped. The upper two are the right and left atria

Ventricles The lower two are the right and left ventricles

Valves Four valves open and close to let blood flow in only one direction when the heart beats: The tricuspid valve is between the right atrium and right ventricle. The pulmonary or pulmonic valve is between the right ventricle and the pulmonary artery. The mitral valve is between the left atrium and left ventricle. The aortic valve is between the left ventricle and the aorta.

Valves

The End http://www.heartpoint.com/theheart.htm l http://health.howstuffworks.com/adam-200083.htm http://www.smm.org/heart/heart/circ.htm http://www.medindia.net/animation/heart_attack.asp