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Your heart is about the size of your fist and is located in the center of your chest.
The Heart
The heart has four separate areas called chambers. The right side and left side of the heart are divided by a wall called the septum. The two chambers on the right side receive blood from all over your body and send the blood to your lungs. There, it releases waste from the organs and cells and picks up oxygen. Then the blood leaves the lungs and goes back into the heart through the left side, and from there its pumped back throughout your body. The hearts top two heart chambers together are called the atria (or atrium, singular). The right atrium receives blood from the body; the left atrium gets blood from the lungs. The hearts bottom chambers are called the ventricles. They push the blood out of the heart. The hearts upper and lower chambers have special doors called valves; the valves are oneway doors that only allow the blood to travel forward. As the ventricles push the blood out, the atria are refilling and this process repeats over and over again. Your heart never stops.
Additional Resources
Amazing Heart Facts The Heart Map of the Human Heart Circulation Station Heart Transplant Interactive
Functions of Blood
Blood carries oxygen from your lungs to all your body cells. Blood also carries carbon dioxide to your lungs to be exhaled. Blood carries waste products from your cells to your kidneys to be removed. Blood carries nutrients to your body cells. Cells in blood fight infections and help heal wounds.
Parts of Blood
Blood is made of plasma and blood cells. Plasma is the liquid part of blood. It is 90% water and contains nutrients, proteins, hormones, and waste products. It carries the three types of blood cellsred blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets.
Platelets
Platelets and special proteins called clotting factors form clots that help seal leaks, wounds, cuts, and scratches and prevent bleeding inside and on the surface of our bodies.