Download The Heart Is a Pump

The Heart—Activity 1
Name ________________________________________________ Date _________________ Class Period ___________
The Heart Is a Pump
You may have heard that you should have good cardiovascular fitness.
Cardio stands for heart, and vascular stands for blood and circulatory system.
Your life depends on the two working together and doing their jobs.
The main purpose of the heart is to pump blood throughout your body.
It delivers oxygen-rich blood to every cell and picks up carbon dioxide. The
lungs are where carbon dioxide is used and exchanged for oxygen.
The heart is a pump with four chambers. The muscle fibers allow the
heart to contract and then relax. It works continuously, expanding to flow
in blood and contracting to pump out blood. To get an idea of how the heart
works when it contracts, close your fist to indicate blood pumping out, then
open and relax your fist to indicate blood flowing into the heart.
The heart has two pumps, with right and left sides. These sides are
separated in the middle by the septum. Each side of the heart has two
chambers with valves that allow blood to flow through the heart. The
upper, receiving chamber is the atrium. The lower, pumping chamber is
the ventricle. Figure 1.1 illustrates the different chambers of the heart.
Figure 1.1
Copyright © by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Septum is shown by the line and divides
the heart into right and left sides
Right atrium
Receiving chamber
Left atrium
Receiving chamber
Right ventricle
Pumping chamber
Left ventricle
Pumping chamber
Right pump
Left pump
Fitness Zone Online The Heart
The Heart—Activity 1
Name ________________________________________________ Date _________________ Class Period ___________
Heart Pump Activity
The purpose of this activity is to understand how the heart functions
as two pumps.
1.Place a tennis ball or racquetball in each hand.
2.Keep the following sequence: relax right, squeeze right, pause, relax
left, squeeze left, pause.
Look across the chart below from left to right, and note that you
are squeezing your right hand before your left. Try to exert more
force with the left hand, but keep the same pattern. Sound out the
sequence as you do it, and see if you can get a regular rhythm.
Right Atrium
Right Ventricle
Lungs
Left Atrium
Left Ventricle
Body
Relax Right
Squeeze Right
Pause
Relax Left
Squeeze Left
Pause
Note: If you were to perform this activity every other day, the muscles in your
hands and arms would become stronger. This is what happens to your heart
when you exercise the muscle appropriately. You want your heart to be as
C01-02A exercise (exercise that works
strong as possible. This is why cardiovascular
the heart) is very important.
Evaluation
1.Describe how your hands and forearms felt during the activity.
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2.What happened to your own heart rate or breathing during the
activity?
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Fitness Zone Online The Heart
Copyright © by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
3.Continue the sequence for 3 minutes.