Right Through the Heart

Materials

· Heart diagram

· Sticker for labeling

· Mini binder clip

· Vial of food coloring

· 2 x 4 oz. bottles

· Water (Not included)

· 4 x flexible straws

· Clay

· Washi tape

· Clear graduate cylinder cup

Math Tie In

· Pencil

· Yarn

· 1/2 sheet of black paper

· Person Cutout

· Scissors

Procedure

1. Fill the two 4oz. bottles each 80% full with water. Add 1/2 of the food coloring to each bottle. This is the blood!

2. Take 2 straws, stretch and bend them to create a 90 degree angle. Gently squeeze the end of one straw and place it inside of the other straw. Using the washi tape, tape the joining of the straws. Repeat with the other 2 straws. You should have 2 sets of the straws in front of you. This is like the plumbing of your heart. These represent the arteries!

3. Notice that there are 2 lids with different sized holes. Place the 2 bottles in front of you in a row. Put the end of one straw through the bigger hole of the one lid with the 2 different sized holes. Fit the other end of the straw into the other lid (with the same sized holes). (See video for specific instructions)

4. Use the clay to make an airtight seal around each straw. Do not cover up the smaller hole. This makes the heart pump!

5. Place the other set of straws in the other hole in the middle of our set up. The other end of the straw goes into the cup (which is the body/lungs). Cut the straw short that goes into “the body” cup. Use the clay to secure it to the inside of the cup. You should have two 4oz. containers and 1 cup, all connected by straws. This demonstrates 2 of the 4 chambers of your heart. 

6. Place the ‘Atrium’ sticker on the bottle to the left (with the smaller hole in the lid). Place the ‘Ventricle’ sticker on the other bottle.

7. Lay your heart diagram down on a flat surface. Which bottles go where? Place the two bottles in their correct location. The body can be anywhere outside of the diagram.

8. To pump the blood through the heart and into the body, use the clip to pinch the straw between the atrium and the ventricle. Squeeze the middle bottle (the ventricle). This pumps blood into the body. Keeping the ventricle bottle squeezed,  place the binder clip on the straw between the ventricle and the body, and pump the ventricle bottle. Watch the blood move from the atrium into the ventricle Repeat! Atrium—>Ventricle—>Body. What if the Atrium runs out of blood? How many ounces of blood can we pump in 1 second? Can you fill the body up with blood? How can you make the complete circuit so you never run out of blood?

MATH TIME ———————>>>>>> Check out the video for a special math tie in!

Science Behind it!

The human heart has four chambers, a right and left atrium and a right and left ventricle. This experiment represents how blood is pumped to the lungs and body through the heart. This is just one side of the heart. The binder clip shows how the valve in a heart allows blood to run and stop through certain points in the heart. How can doctors use this to help heart patients? Do you think you could pump the entire body full of blood? If you alternate squeezing the arteries (the straws), what do you notice?