Gallery · reference composition

Take the heart apart

The heart is a handful of solid parts that fit together exactly: the left ventricle (with the septum), the right ventricle, the left and right atrium, the stumps of the aorta and the pulmonary trunk, the veins that bring blood back, and four valves. Hover a word to find the part.

The colour on the ventricles is a recording of the simulated normal beat, and it keeps playing while you take the heart apart. Inside the ventricular walls runs the conduction system: the His bundle, its two branches and the fine Purkinje network, which carry the beat to the muscle. In the x-ray view the walls turn to glass and the network lights up as the wave reaches each branch. The network is placed by rules from the anatomy, not traced from a real heart.