4 interesting facts about the heart
Last reviewed: 30.03.2024
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Our heart is a hollow muscular organ that receives and transports blood from venous trunks into the arterial system. There are many interesting facts about the human heart, some of which ILIVE presents to your attention.
The heart is an eternal worker
If you squeeze your hand into a fist, you will see the size of your heart. The average weight of a woman's heart is 220 grams, and the male heart weighs about 300 grams. It continuously and smoothly performs the function of the pumping station, because in the heart all arteries and veins converge. For one reduction, the heart pushes up to 75 ml of blood, and at an average contraction rate of one minute this amount is 4-5 liters.
Heart of the embryo
The heart of the embryo begins to form on the 16-19 day of pregnancy, and passes some very interesting changes before becoming a small miniature of the heart of an adult.
At the beginning of the formation of the heart of the embryo is like a small tube, which, as a result of intensive growth, is wrapped, and then develops into a two-chambered heart, like a frog. Over time, it turns into a three-chambered heart and becomes like the heart of a snake. And finally, the heart acquires a human form - the formation of the fourth chamber is being completed. Beating it starts on the 22nd day of pregnancy, and the blood begins to circulate for the fourth week after conception.
Position of the heart
If you ask where the heart is, most will bring their hand to the left side of the chest.
However, our heart is located just to the left of the middle of the chest, behind the sternum. But why do we think that it is on the left?
The left side of the heart is responsible for supplying the blood of the most remote parts of the body, and the right side sends blood to the lungs, which are very close. For this reason, the heart does not need much effort to transport the blood into the lungs, otherwise it can damage them. But by directing blood through the arteries, the heart makes powerful tremors, which gives us the feeling that the heart is located on the left side of the chest.
Life of the heart outside the body
The heart can continue to beat even outside the body, because it has its own electrical impulses. The main thing is to have a sufficient supply of oxygen. The heart of an ordinary adult man beats 2.5 billion times throughout life, 36 million times a year, 100,000 times a day, 72 times per minute.