The Heart & Blood
Understand that the heart is a muscle that pumps blood around the body through tubes called blood vessels, and that we can feel our heartbeat by placing a hand on our chest or fingers on our wrist
What a learner can do afterwards
- Locate their own heartbeat by touch (chest or pulse point)
- State that the heart pumps blood through the body continuously
- Describe blood vessels as tubes that carry blood to every part of the body
1 · Read
Your heart is a muscle inside your chest. It pumps blood all day and night. Blood cannot move by itself, so your heart pushes it.
Blood vessels are tiny tubes inside your body. They carry blood to your arms and legs. Blood reaches every single part of you.
Mia puts a hand on her chest. She feels four thumps in a row. Those thumps are her heart, pumping blood.
You can also feel your pulse. Press two fingers gently on your wrist. Feel for soft, steady thumps there too.
Your heart pumps blood through tubes called blood vessels. You can feel it beat under your fingers.
More to read
40.3 Mammalian Heart and Blood Vessels
Your heart is a muscle. It sits in the middle of your chest, a little to the left. It is about the size of your fist.
Your heart is a pump. It squeezes and relaxes, squeezes and relaxes, all day and all night. Every squeeze pushes blood out to your whole body. It never stops, not even when you sleep.
Blood travels through tiny tubes called blood vessels. Blood vessels go everywhere in your body. They reach your toes, your fingers, and your brain. The blood carries food and air to every part of you, and then it comes back to the heart to be pumped again.
You can feel your heart working. Put your hand flat on your chest. Stay still and quiet. You will feel a little thump, thump, thump. That is your heartbeat.
Chapter Review
Your heart pushes blood into little tubes. These tubes are called blood vessels.
Blood vessels are like tiny roads inside your body. They go to every part of you. Some tubes carry blood away from the heart. Other tubes bring blood back to the heart. The tiniest tubes are very, very small. They let blood visit every little bit of your body, even the tips of your fingers and toes.
Your heart keeps pumping and the blood keeps moving, all the time. That is how every part of your body gets what it needs to grow and play.
How to Calculate Your Heart Rate: 8 Steps
You can feel your own heartbeat. Here is a fun way to do it.
Look at the inside of your wrist, just under your thumb. Press two fingers gently on that spot. Stay very still. You will feel a little push, push, push under your fingers. That is called your pulse. Each push is one beat of your heart.
You can also put your hand flat on your chest. You will feel the thump of your heart there too.
Try counting the beats. Jump up and down ten times, then feel your wrist again. Your heart beats faster now. It is pumping more blood to help your body move.
Explore more
2 · Watch
به انگلیسیTake it off screen
Where it sits
Learn first
Nothing; this is a starting point.
Where this leads
8 questions wait behind this lesson, each with its answer explained. Every answer feeds the sky: stars light as they are learned, and dim when it is time to come back.