Your heart is an amazing organ. It continuously pumps oxygen and nutrient-rich blood throughout your body to sustain life. This section will help you learn about the human heart. As the heart beats, it pumps blood through a system of blood vessels, called the circulatory system. The vessels are elastic tubes that carry blood to every part of the body.
Blood is essential.
In addition to carrying oxygen and nutrients to your body's tissues, it also takes carbon dioxide and waste products away from the tissues. It is needed to sustain life and promote the health of all the body's tissues. They begin with the aorta, the large artery leaving the heart. Arteries carry oxygen-rich blood away from the heart to all of the body's tissues. They branch several times, becoming smaller and smaller as they carry blood farther from the heart.