Why is the Left Ventricle Thicker Than the Right?
Answer – The left ventricle is thicker and more muscular than the right because it exerts a great amount of force to pump blood from the heart to the rest of the body. The right ventricle, on the other hand, pumps blood only from the heart to the lungs, an activity that doesn’t require as much pressure.
Explanation:
The heart comprises 4 chambers—2 auricles and 2 ventricles; each side (left and right) of the organ has one auricle and one ventricle.
The left auricle (at the top right) receives oxygenated blood from the lungs and pumps it into the left ventricle (at the bottom left). The left ventricle then does the most of the heavy lifting, pumping blood from the heart to the rest of the body (systemic circuit). Since this function involves pumping blood through a great distance and against a high pressure, the left ventricle has a thick and highly muscular wall. In fact, this wall is 3 times thicker than that of the right ventricle.
The right auricle (at the top right), on the other hand, receives deoxygenated blood from the rest of the body. It then pumps this blood to the right ventricle (at the bottom right), which further pumps the blood into the lungs (pulmonary circuit). Since this activity does not require as much pressure as pumping blood to the rest of the body, the right ventricle is thinner than the left.
In general, both ventricles have thicker walls than the auricles; this is because their functions involve the application of a greater force than the auricles.
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