Life · Signature experience
Where does the heart send blood, and how does it come back?
Blood returning from the body enters the right side of the heart, travels to the lungs for oxygen, returns to the left side, and is pumped back to the body.
Start the blood-cell journeyBody → right heart
Blood returning after oxygen delivery enters the right heart through large veins.
Heart → lungs → heart
The right ventricle sends blood to the lungs; oxygen-rich blood returns to the left heart.
Left heart → body
The left ventricle pumps blood into the aorta for delivery throughout the body.
Look for this first
Watch what changes during the experience
- 01Which side receives blood returning from the body
- 02How the oxygen indicator changes after the lungs
- 03Why the vessel leaving the left ventricle is shown large
- 04How one blood cell eventually returns to the same circuit
Why does it happen?
These ideas explain what you see
Right heart
Receives oxygen-poor blood from the body and sends it to the lungs.
Lungs
Blood picks up oxygen and releases carbon dioxide in tiny lung vessels.
Left heart
Receives oxygen-rich blood and pumps it to the body at high pressure.
Return trip
After delivering oxygen, blood returns through veins to the heart.
Key words
Keep the hard words simple
- Artery
- A vessel carrying blood away from the heart; it does not always mean oxygen-rich.
- Vein
- A vessel carrying blood toward the heart.
- Ventricle
- A lower heart chamber that pumps blood out.
- Circulation
- The continuous loop of blood through heart, lungs, and body.
Blood is never actually blue. Blue in the experience is only a diagram color for relatively oxygen-poor blood.
Try it yourself
Follow one blood cell through the heart and lungs
Rotate the 3D anatomy, then turn on Follow one blood cell to travel with a cell through the circuit.