The heart of a normal child will beat between 100 and 120 times a minute. An adult's heart will beat between 60 and 90 beats per minute. An adult's heart will beat about 85,000 times a day. A child's heart will beat about 140,000 times each day. There are two main types of blood vessels.
Arteries carry blood rich in oxygen from the heart to the body.
Veins carry blood from the body back to the heart where it is pumped into the lungs to receive more oxygen. There are four valves that control the flow of blood through the heart, opening and closing like automatic doors. They are the tricuspid valve, the mitral valve, the aortic valve and the pulmonic valve. The sound that is heard when listening to a heartbeat is actually the sound of the heart's valves opening and closing. The heart does not use any of the blood that flows through it to nourish itself.