Pulmonary Circuit and Systemic Circuit

This lesson will be examining blood as it flows through two circuits:

1. The Pulmonary Circuit
2. The Systemic Circuit

1.The Pulmonary Circuit

Recall the structure of the heart. Our heart is divided into two halves and each half is divided into two chambers, so there are 4 chambers total in the heart. Each half of our heart pumps blood into one of two different circuits.

The pulmonary circuit is the first circuit to examine. Blood that has had oxygen used from it by the body enters the right atrium, moves into the right ventricle, and then is pumped up to the lungs. Now once it reaches the lungs, it will be able to latch onto more oxygen. It will become oxygen rich. It flows back to the heart, and the circuit is complete.

• Pulmonary Circuit
• One of the two circuits of blood flow in which the right side of the heart pumps blood low in oxygen to the lungs and returns it to the left atrium.

2. The Systemic Circuit

Once blood has been enriched with oxygen and has returned to the heart from the lungs, it is pumped into the systemic circuit. The systemic system carries oxygen rich blood from our heart to the rest of our body, and then back to the right side of the heart.

If blood goes through the pulmonary circuit to become enriched with oxygen, what happens with oxygen in the systemic circuit?

The answer is, it will get depleted. As the oxygen rich blood passes through your body, the oxygen gets used. The Oxygen lacking blood will return to the heart, and then enter the pulmonary circuit again.

• Systemic Circuit
• One of the two circuits of blood flow in which the left side of the heart pumps oxygen rich blood to the body and returns it to the right atrium.

Oxygen-lacking blood enters the right side of the heart, where it is pumped into the pulmonary circuit. In the pulmonary circuit, blood is pumped to the lungs to be enriched with oxygen, and then returned to the right side of the heart. From here, the right side of the heart pumps blood through the systemic circuit. In the systemic circuit, oxygen right blood is carried throughout the body, where oxygen is taken from the blood and used. This oxygen-lacking blood is then returned to the heart.

Keep up the learning and have a great day!