Electrical Conductivity of the Heart
Have you ever wondered just how important your heart is? Do you ever think about it to keep it beating? Well, the answer is probably no. Your heart is an amazing organ. It has the ability to function on its own. The heart is about the size of you fist lying in the middle of you chest. It is composed of numerous fibers and tissues, which allows it to operate and pump blood though out your body. The fibers allow electricity to be transmitted across the heart. The main areas that deal with the electrical impulses are the SA node, the AV node, the Bundle of His, and the purkinje fibers. Together, all these components contract the heart and pump blood through the body. The sinoatrial (SA) node, or the natural pacemaker of the heart, is where the electrical impulses are generated. It is located in the upper wall of the right atrium near the opening from the superior vena cava. The SA node sets the contraction rate by generating nerve impulse
The purkinje fibers transmit the electrical signal very quickly. The signal travels across them as quickly as a signal travels in a myelinated nerve axon. After the impulse starts to travel from the beginning of the purkinje fibers, all the cardiac muscle cells contract the ventricle. This process only takes seventy-five milliseconds! Ventricular contraction occurs, and blood is either pumped into the body or pumped towards the lungs. These fibers are set up so that the blood is aimed towards the openings of the aorta and the pulmonary arteries. The AV bundle or the bundle of His is the only electrical connection between the atria and the ventricles. The AV bundle is located in the septum of the heart and travel downwards until they branch into left and right bundles. After the fibers reach the area of the apex of the heart, they began to be known as purkinje. s which travel through the heart wall and then both atria contract. It doe
Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 642
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)
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