Heart Definition – What Is Heart?
A simple answer to "What is heart and the heart functions" is that it is the main organ of your body's circulatory system, pumping blood throughout the body. According to the heart definition, you can call it a muscular pump which contracts at regular intervals in order to squeeze the blood through it into the blood vessels.
As you can see in the human heart diagram, there are four chambers in this tireless pumping organ. All the chambers work in coordination for the successful execution of different heart functions. The right chambers contain unclean or the deoxygenated blood. On the other hand, the left chambers contain clean or the oxygenated blood. Just look at the different parts of heart to get a better understanding of the heart functions.
How Heart Works?
In order to understand how the heart works, it is important to know about its main parts. There are four chambers in the heart; the top chambers are atria while the chambers below them are ventricles. As many as four valves control the flow of blood into and out of the heart.
A double-walled membrane, the pericardium, separates the right and left chambers, preventing oxygen-rich blood from mixing up with the one without oxygen. So, the heart functions go smoothly.
Deoxygenated blood enters the right atrium. The valve present between the right atrium and the right ventricle is the tricuspid valve. It opens to let the blood flow into the right ventricle. The valve then closes to prevent the backward flow of blood.
This deoxygenated blood enters the pulmonary artery and moves to the lungs to replenish its oxygen content. This oxygen-rich blood them comes back to the heart through the pulmonary vein. The right atrium receives this oxygenated blood.
The mitral valve between the right atrium and the right ventricle opens to let the blood flow into the right ventricle. It then closes to prevent the backward flow of blood. Finally, there is pumping of the blood into the aorta from where it is distributed to the rest of the body through the arteries. So, you can say that main function of the heart is to supply all the body cells with oxygen and nutrients through the circulation of blood.
