Circulation and blood vessels - the basics

Question 1

how is circulation of the blood powered?

Answer 1

rhythmic contractions of the heart

Question 2

describe the pathway of the blood

Answer 2

a figure of eight in which the heart sits at the crossing of the eight
.

Question 3

how does the blood leave the heart?

Answer 3

on the left hand-side via a wide vessel known as the aorta from which arteries branch out

Question 4

what do the arteries do?

Answer 4

each artery divides like branches of a tree and form a fine network of tiny capillaries which supply the tissues of the whole body with oxygenated blood

Question 5

how do nutrients and oxygen leave the blood?

Answer 5

via the capillaries in the hungry tissues and replaced with by waste and carbon dioxide

Question 6

what are veins?

Answer 6

capillaries in tissues that build up to form progressively larger vessels

Question 7

what do veins do?

Answer 7

carry deoxygenated blood back to the right hand side of the heart

Question 8

what does the right side if the heart do?

Answer 8

pumps the blood from the bodily tissues via arteries to the capillary bed in the lungs - here the lungs re-oxygenate and travel back through the veins to the left hand-side

Question 9

what does the left hand-side of the heart do?

Answer 9

blood leaves heart via aorta - pumps blood round the body via capillaries which supply tissue with blood
veins carry de-oxygenated blood back to the heart