Double

Circulatory System
The human circulatory system has three key components: blood vessels,

blood and the heart.

The Heart
The heart is the muscular organ that is responsible for pumping blood

around the body, it is part of the circulatory system.

The human circulatory system is called a double circulatory system

because blood passes through the heart twice per circuit:

The right pump sends deoxygenated blood to the lungs where it

becomes oxygenated and returns back to the heart.

The left pump sends the newly oxygenated blood around the body.

During this circuit, oxygen is released into body cells to allow for

respiration. By the time this blood returns to the heart, it has

returned to a deoxygenated state.

The heart has four chambers: the left and right atria and the left and right

ventricles. It also contains valves and a pacemaker. The functions of these

parts are described here:

Blood enters the heart via the atria. Once filled with blood, the atria

contract forcing blood down into the ventricles below. Then the

ventricles contract, which forces blood to exit the heart.

A group of cells in the right atrium act as pacemakers: They control

the timing of the heart beat. Irregular heart rates can be corrected
 using electrical devices known as artificial pacemakers.

Valves in the heart prevent blood from flowing backwards.

Note: The left atrium is on the body’s left, but the diagram views this heart
from a doctor’s perspective.

Key Veins and Arteries

The heart receives deoxygenated blood from the body through a

vein called the vena cava.

The heart receives oxygenated blood from the lungs through the

pulmonary vein.

The heart pumps out oxygenated blood to body through the aorta.

The heart pumps out deoxygenated blood to the lungs through the

pulmonary artery.
 The heart muscle is supplied with oxygenated blood by the

coronary arteries.

The Lungs
Another important element of our circulatory system is the lungs.

Deoxygenated blood arrives at the lungs from the heart via the

pulmonary artery.

Air is breathed into the lungs through the trachea (windpipe). The

trachea divides into two tubes called the bronchi, which divide to

form bronchioles. These in turn divide until they end up in tiny air

sacs called alveoli, and there are millions of these in our lungs.

They are surrounded by a network of capillaries, allowing oxygen

and carbon dioxide to be exchanged between the blood in the

 capillaries and the air in the lungs.
The oxygen and carbon dioxide move between the air and blood by

diffusion. Alveoli are adapted to be very efficient diffusers: they

have a large surface area that is moist, a rich oxygen supply, and

are very close to capillaries - so the distance for gases to diffuse is

small.

Oxygenated blood returns to the heart via the pulmonary vein.

For GCSE Biology resources, visit: https://senecalearning.com/resources/