Did you know that the human heart pumps 1.5 million barrels of blood throughout a person’s lifetime? That’s enough blood to fill about 200 train tank cars. And that’s not even counting the amount of fluid that is released by the heart.
It pumps 1.3 gallons (5 quarts) of blood per minute
Did you know that the human heart pumps up to 2,000 gallons of blood a day? It has the capability to pump more blood than any other organ in the body. The heart beats between sixty and hundred beats per minute, and the average adult has one to four quarts of blood in circulation every minute. The heart starts beating just a few weeks after fertilization and reaches a peak rate of about 105 beats per minute at about four weeks old.
While the human heart may appear small, it is a very important organ. The organ pumps over two thousand gallons of blood each day, which is nearly as much blood as two hundred train tank cars. Its job is to circulate blood throughout the body, and if the heart is damaged, the blood supply to the rest of the body will be affected.
It has a will
The ancient Greek philosophers, Plato and Aristotle, all agreed that the heart carries the strongest emotions and that it has supremacy over all other parts of the body. Aristotle, in turn, expanded this role, giving the heart supremacy over all other parts of the body, including thought and emotion. In ancient Rome, the heart was associated with love and the goddess Venus was credited with setting hearts on fire. Other gods associated with the heart include Cupid, the god of love.
It develops in the fetus
When the fetus is fertilized, the human heart begins to develop. It may look like a snake or turtle, but it eventually develops into a four-chambered structure. At this stage, the heart tube is about two to three mm long.
The human heart begins to develop within the fetus around ten weeks after conception. In its early development, the heart looks like a thin tube with a large ventricle and two atriums. As the fetus grows, the fetal heart starts to bend and twist, making it look like a normal human heart. There are two atriums and four chambers in a fetus heart.
It has a nervous system
The human heart is a complex organ with its own nervous system, called the intracardiac nervous system (INS). The neurons within this system play a vital role in heart health and function. They influence the rate and rhythm of the heart, and they control certain heart diseases. The INS is made up of motor neurons and spatially distributed neurones, and it functions as the heart’s “little brain”.
The heart’s nerve cells are organized in groups called neuron clusters. Most of these clusters are in the upper half of the heart, while others spread out toward the back. Neuron clusters on the left side of the heart are more numerous, allowing researchers to study them in greater detail. This information can help doctors develop more effective therapies for cardiac conditions.
It is shaped like a fist
This shape reflects the way the heart works: it contracts and expands constantly to pump blood throughout the body. The right side of the heart receives blood from the body and pumps it to the lungs, which refresh the blood with oxygen. The left side of the heart pumps blood back to the rest of the body.
The human heart is situated in the thoracic cavity called the mediastinum. The heart is about the size of a fist and sits slightly left of the center of the chest. The heart beats approximately 100,000 times a day and pumps around eight pints of blood around the body. The heart pumps oxygen-rich blood to all of the tissues in the body and carries waste products out of the body. The heart’s function is vital to human life.
It has a pulmonary artery
The pulmonary artery is one of the major blood vessels in the human body. It originates from the heart and is the main blood vessel in the lungs. This artery has two branches, the left and the right, and each branch carries blood to a separate lung. These arteries play an important role in the pulmonary circulation, which involves the exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide in the body.
The pulmonary artery originates from the aorta and the truncus arteriosus. This short, stout artery is located at the base of the right ventricle and branches out to the left and right pulmonary arteries. These arteries act to transport deoxygenated blood to the lung and bring oxygen-rich blood back to the right heart.
){kind=link}