This research paper discusses the human heart's electrical system and how pacemakers work. The heart has a carefully designed electrical system to synchronize the contraction of the four chambers. The sinoatrial node initiates the electrical signal which travels through the atrioventricular node and bundle of His to contract the ventricles. However, if the heart's electrical system fails, a pacemaker can be used. Pacemakers generate electrical impulses to initiate the heart's action potential and restore normal rhythm when the heart's natural pacemaker is weakened. There are different types of pacemakers that can be used depending on the condition, such as single chamber or dual chamber pacemakers.
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Small Research Project for my Physics High School Class.
This research paper discusses the human heart's electrical system and how pacemakers work. The heart has a carefully designed electrical system to synchronize the contraction of the four chambers. The sinoatrial node initiates the electrical signal which travels through the atrioventricular node and bundle of His to contract the ventricles. However, if the heart's electrical system fails, a pacemaker can be used. Pacemakers generate electrical impulses to initiate the heart's action potential and restore normal rhythm when the heart's natural pacemaker is weakened. There are different types of pacemakers that can be used depending on the condition, such as single chamber or dual chamber pacemakers.
This research paper discusses the human heart's electrical system and how pacemakers work. The heart has a carefully designed electrical system to synchronize the contraction of the four chambers. The sinoatrial node initiates the electrical signal which travels through the atrioventricular node and bundle of His to contract the ventricles. However, if the heart's electrical system fails, a pacemaker can be used. Pacemakers generate electrical impulses to initiate the heart's action potential and restore normal rhythm when the heart's natural pacemaker is weakened. There are different types of pacemakers that can be used depending on the condition, such as single chamber or dual chamber pacemakers.
Your Hearts Electrical System Beating an average of 100,000 times per day and about 35 million times in a year, the human heart pumps a relentless amount of blood into our arteries throughout our lives. For this major feat, the heart has a carefully designed electrical system. With four heart chamberstwo lower chambers called ventricles and two upper chambers called atriathe heart has to contract and relax each of them synchronously or a bad supply of blood would ensue. The hearts electrical system is also called the cardiac conduction system It all starts in cluster of cells called the Sinoatrial node. They are located in the right atrium of your heart. Whenever your hearts right is filled with blood, the sinoatrial node sends a signal that makes the atria cells to contract, or squeeze. This contraction pumps blood through the tricuspid and mitral valves. The P-wave in your EKG (electrocardiogram) indicates this activity. (Anonymous, 2011) The electrical signal then arrives at the atrioventricular (AV) node near the ventricles. The AV node serves by slowing down the signal, letting the ventricles fill with blood before contracting (signal between the P and Q wave). Whereas the sinoatrial node controls the rhythm of your pulse, the AV node sets the rhythm of your hearts contractions. If the atrium and ventricle did not have this small delay (a tenth of a second) in the electrical signal transmission, the ventricles wouldnt be able to fill themselves causing low blood pressure among other problems. (Thompson, 2010) After the delay, the AV node releases the signal which travels through a pathway called the Bundle of His which is located in the ventricles walls (Q wave signal). Then, the signal proceeds to leave the Bundle of His by the Purkinje fibers that connect directly to the walls of your hearts ventricles. The ventricles contract at different times; the left ventricle contracts a moment before the right ventricle. The R-wave in the EKG, the biggest wave, marks the contraction of the left ventricle and the S-wave, marks the contraction of your right ventricle. After the blood is pumped into your arteries and lungs, the ventricles start to relax marking the last wave shown in the EKG, the T-wave. This process of contraction and relaxation repeats again and again for the rest of your life.
The Pacemaker and the Heart Action Potential Nevertheless, every system as perfect as it may seem, can fail. In this case, if our heart electrical system fails our hearts delivery system fails as well; this in return creates complications that must be fixed with the use of an artificial pacemaker. The pacemaker is a tiny device that is placed in the chest or abdomen to regulate abnormal heart rhythms. It consists of a powerful battery, an electronic circuit and a computer memory that together can generate an electrical impulse. The signals are carried through insulated wires to the heart muscles. (Heart Rhythm Society) . The pacemaker replaces the activity of the natural pacemaker, the SA node. The SA node works by creating the electrical impulse that induces the action potential on the heart cells. The action potential is initiated by the ion-channels that are in each cell. The ions that transport from the cell can be Na+, Ca2+, Cl-, and K+. The action potential is the process in which the neural membrane opens to allow positively charged ions into the cell and negatively charged ions outside the cell. The contractile muscular fibers of the heart have a resting potential of 90 mV. Excitation of the fibers next to them results in the opening of the voltage-gated Na+ channels and a quick depolarization occurs as Na+ moves into the cell. Next the K+ voltage-gated channel also opens and moves out of the cell creating equilibrium. The equilibrium last for approximately 25 milliseconds. Next, the K+ concentration moves out of equilibrium and repolarization of the heart occurs again. (Cherry) When one part of the electrical system of the heart fails, interrupting the normal rhythm of the heart, the pacemaker kicks in as a capacitor releasing its 90mV to initiate the action potential of the heart cells and return them back to a normal rhythm by continuing to activate the proper action potential until the heart can recover.
Reasons for Pacemakers Your doctor may recommend pacemakers for many different reasons. For instance, your sinus nodes ability to set the correct pace may be weakened by age or heart disease. Other reasons include if you are taking certain kind of medicines like beta blockers, youve had a medical procedure for atrial fibrillation, you have faints due to slow heartbeat, or you are under cardiac resynchronization therapy. (Anonymous, 2012)
Types of Pacemakers There are three basic types of pacemakers that exist for a varied of purposes. Single- Chamber Pacemakers have only one wire placed into one of the chambers of the heart and they are used for cases like arrhythmia and sinus node dysfunction. Double-Chamber Pacemakers are placed in both the ventricle and the atrium of the heart. This latter approach helps by completely pacing both the upper and lower chambers of the heart at desired rates. Finally, rate-responsive pacemakers have sensors that automatically adjust to human body changes. (Heart Rhythm Society) Newer pacemakers can even monitor blood temperature, breathing rate, heart rhythm and heart electrical activity among many other factors. Bibliography Anonymous. Your Heart's Electrical System." National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute. N.p., 11 Nov. 2011. Web. 03 Mar. 2014. <http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/health- topics/topics/hhw/electrical.html>. Anonymous. How Does a Pacemaker Work? National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute. Feb. 28, 2012. Web. 03 Mar. 2014 <https://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/health- topics/topics/pace/howdoes.html> Thompson, E. Gregory, MD Internal Medicine. How does my Hearts Electrical System Work. WebMD. March 18, 2010. Web. 03 Mar. 2014. www.webmd.com/heart/how-does-my-hearts-electrical-system-work Heart Rhythm Society. Treatment and Devices. Arrhythmia.org. Web. 03 Mar. 2014. www.arrhythmia.org/pacemaker.html Ashesh. Physics Fundamentals and Pacemakers. The Physics of a Pacemaker. Web. 03 Mar. 2014. www.unc.edu/~ashesh/physics24/pacemakers.html Cherry, Kendra. What is an Action Potential? About.com Psychology. Web. 03 Mar. 2014. www.psychology.about.com/od.aindex/g/actionpot.htm
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