Chapter 2: The Circulatory System Flashcards
Defining this system
What is the circulatory system?
The circulatory system is composed of the lungs, heart, arteries, capillaries, and veins
It is the system that moves blood throughout the body
What is the importance of the circulatory system?
Its function is to transport oxygen and other nutrients to all the organs and tissues is your body; cells.
It works to remove carbon dioxide and other waste products
What is the function of the heart?
Works to pump blood throughout your body via and intricate network of blood vessels
Pumps hormones and other vital substances to different parts of the body
Receives deoxygenated blood and carries metabolic waste products from the body, and pumping into the lungs for oxygenation
Maintains blood pressure
What is the function of the lungs?
Regulate the acidity if the body
Takes oxygen from the atmosphere and passes oxygen into the bloodstream; from there it circulates to the rest of the body
What is the function of the arteries?
They are blood vessels that carry blood away from the heart to the rest of the body, as well as to remove metabolic waste
They are shapped like tubes, and branch into arterioles to reach the organs and tissues
The pumping contractions of the heart propel the blood through the arteries
They divide into arterioles, which in turn divide into capillaries
It is at this level that the exchange of oxygen and nutrients occur
Deoxygenated blood enters venues that converge into veins
What is the function of the capillaries?
Connect the arterial system- which includes the blood vessels that carry blood away from the heart- to your venous system
Your venous system includes the blood vessels that carry blood back to your heart
Capillaries are very tiny blood vessels, so small that single red blood cells can barely fit through them
What is the function of the veins?
They have one way valves, instead of muscles, to stop blood from running back the wrong way
They carry deoxygenated blood from the body to the heart where it can be sent to the lungs
What is the function of the veins?
They have one way valves, instead of muscles, to stop blood from running back the wrong way
They carry deoxygenated blood from the body to the heart where it can be sent to the lungs
Describe the human heart in detail?
The two upper chambers of the heart are the left and right atria
The lower chambers are the left and right ventricles
They are separated from each other by a muscular wall that enables the heart to work as two separate pumps
The right side pumps venous blood to the lungs : low in oxygen, high in carbon dioxide
The left sides pumps oxygenated blood through the aorta to all the tissues of the body: high in oxygen, low in carbon dioxide
