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Biology
Transport In Humans
Transport In Humans
The human transport system is a system of tubes with a pump and valves to ensure one way blood flow. We need a transport system to deliver oxygen, nutrients and other substances to all our body cells, and take away waste products from them. The oxygenated blood (high in oxygen, red in color) comes to the heart from the lungs in the pulmonary vein; the heart pumps it to the aorta (an artery) to the rest of the body. The deoxygenated blood returns to the heart from the body in the vena cava (a vein), the heart pumps is to the lungs to get rid of the carbon dioxide. Oxygenated Blood: Red color, high oxygen low Carbon dioxide. Deoxygenated Blood: Blue color, low oxygen high Carbon dioxide. Did you notice that during one circulation, the blood went through the heart twice, this is why we call it double circulation. When the blood is flowing away from the heart, it has a very high pressure, when it is flowing towards the heart it has a lower pressure.
The Blood:
The blood is a fluid consisting of several types of cells floating in a liquid called plasma.
Red Blood Cells:
These are one of the smallest cells in your body, they are round with a dent in the middle, we call this shape a Biconcave disc. The function of the red blood cells is to transport oxygen from the lungs to the body cells. A red protein called Haemoglobin, when the blood reaches the lungs, oxygen diffuses from the alveoli to the red blood cells and combines with haemoglobin forming an unstable compound called oxyhaemoglobin. When the blood reaches the body cells, the oxyhaemoglobin is easily split into oxygen and haemoglobin again, the oxygen diffuses through the blood plasma to the