Alpha science classroom：DIY A Functioning Heart Model

The heart is the most important organ that keeps us alive and healthy every day. But do children know how the heart works? Today Alpha Science Classroom is working with kids to create a simple model of an engineer's heart. Explore how the heart works in this great biotech science experiment, and tie in with discussions about heart function and heart health.

Alpha science classroom：Materials needed to make a heart model by yourself

• 3 x Pop bottles (710 mL) with caps, labels removed.

• 4 x Bendy straws

• 3 cups of water

• Food coloring

• Tape

• Modeling clay or play dough

• Drill (or another sharp pokey for making holes in the caps)In a pitcher, mix your water and food coloring to create your “red blood”. The exact amount of water is not important.

  

Alpha Science Classroom: Make your own heart model steps

Children need to keep the third one as a backup. Drill two holes of the same size in the first cover. You want the hole to be big enough for the straw to slide through. Drill a straw-sized hole in the second cover. The second one should be smaller. Children need to drill two straw-sized drills at the same time (like us)。

Step 1: The children take two straws, stretch and bend them to form a 90-degree angle. Slide one straw into the other (pinch one to make it smaller so that it slides in), and then tape the connection. Repeat for the second set of straws.

Step 2: The children put three bottles on the table. Add the first two glasses of water to about 80% of the water volume and leave the third one empty.

Step 3: The children put a bottle cap with a straw hole and a small hole on the first bottle. Put the caps of the two straw holes on the middle bottle. Leave the third bottle without a cap.

Step 4: Carefully slide the straw through the cap. Put clay or dough around the straw base of the middle bottle to airtightly seal with the bottle cap. The kids are now ready to use your heart model!

Make children's heart models work

In this simple model for children, the first bottle is the atrium of the heart, the second bottle is the ventricle, and the third bottle represents the lungs or body. Our fingers act as the valve of the heart.

In order for your heart model to work properly, please squeeze only the middle bottle. First sandwich the straw between the atrium and the ventricular bottle. Squeeze the bottle in the middle and watch your "blood" spray into your body.

Keeping the middle bottle “squeezed” move your fingers and pinch the straw between the ventricle and body. Now release the middle bottle and watch your blood move from the atrium into the ventricle.

Repeat, repeat, repeat to pump blood from the atrium, into the ventricle then out to the body!

Once your blood in the atrium gets too low, you can take blood from the “body” and add it back into the atrium. Then start again.

Alpha science classroom：Scientific principles in the heart model

Through this simple biology science experiment, Alpha science classroom wants to tell children that you know that heart rhythm is how fast your heartbeats. We measure this as the number of heartbeats per minute. The easiest way is to count the number of times your heart beats in ten seconds, and then multiply that number by 6 (60 seconds a minute) to get your heart rhythm.

Heart rate is affected by many factors. It varies from person to person, but each person's heart rate changes every day. Many factors affect the heart rate, including age, health, activity, caffeine, sugar, etc.

In our heart model, we are exploring how blood flows through the heart chambers in one direction. Our heart has four chambers, the left, and right atria and the left and right ventricles. The blood will only flow in one direction into the heart, into the lungs to be oxidized, then into the heart, and then back to the body. The four valves of our heart are important to ensure this unidirectional blood flow. When pinching the straw, please carefully observe the working condition of the valve. What happens to the liquid in the straw?

We have 4 heart valves. The tricuspid valve and the mitral valve are located between the atrium and the ventricle. The aorta and pulmonary valves control the flow of blood from the ventricle into the artery. When you clamp the straw between the first two bottles, you are imitating the Tripupsid or Mitral valve. When you pinch the second straw, you are mimicking the aorta or pulmonary valve.

Are the kids very surprised and your heart is beating very fast? So today's Alpha Science Classroom was successful. Children can have a preliminary understanding of the working principle of the heart through today's biological science experiments. Children can also explore more mysteries about human biology. Alpha Science Toys has many science experiments about biology for kids. Come and choose your favorite toy!