Veins and Arteries
Tough questions!
Dear Mr. D,
Hi!!! How are you? I am fine. Here are the answers to your questions.
Q. What is a vein?
A. Veins are thin-walled vessels because the blood in them has lost most of its surging pressure. They carry blood back to your heart.
Q. What is an artery?
A. Arteries are tubes with thick, muscluar walls to withtstand the pumping surges of the heart. They carry blood away from your heart.
Q. Are there any arteries that carry deoxygenated blood?
A. No,there are not any arteries that have deoxygenated blood because the arteries carry the blood away from the heart.
Q. Are there any veins that carry oxygenated blood?
A. No, there are not any veins that carry oxygentted blood because the veins are carrying the blood back to your heart.
Q. What is the purpose of the right side of the heart?
A.The purpose of the right side of the heart is that it is the lung pump because it pumps the blood to the lungs.
Q. What is the purpose of the left side of the heart?
A. The purpose of the left side of the heart is that it is the body pump because it pumps the blood to the whole body.
Well, there are the answers to your questions If you took all the veins in your body end to end it would stretch five thousand miles. That is farther than what it is here to Florida. Well, got to go.
Your Key Pal,
Heather
I must say, you did a really fine job researching my circulation questions. I did throw in two "ringers" for you, though. They were the questions about deoxygentated blood in arteries and oxygenated blood in veins.
There is an artery called the Pulmonary Artery that leads from the Right Ventricle to the capillaries in the lungs. Since this artery is on the right side of the heart it carries deoxygentated blood. You may be interested to know that it has two branches, the Left & Right Pulmonary Arteries.
When the blood leaves the lung capillaries it is fully oxygenated and goes directly to the left atrium of the heart by way of the Cardiac Veins. These are the only veins that carry oxygenated blood.
Sorry, those were tough questions. Remember them though, so that if someone tells you that veins carry deoxygenated blood and arteries carry oxygenated blood, you can point out that they are only partly right.
Your Key Pal,
Mr. D' oxygenated
Dear Mr. D,
I have some facts for you. I thought this was pretty interesting. Did you know that if you put all of the arteries, veins, and capillaries end to end it would reach 10 thousand miles long?
Melissa
I agree, it is pretty interesting. I wonder how all that stuff fits. Do you know what the biggest artery in the body is called? Write and tell me.
Your circulatin' Key Pal,
Mr. D
Delos Johnson
