Question

Bill Nye – Blood & Circulation
1. The ___________ is the big push and the ______________ is the reloading push.
2. As you move away from the heart, your vessels get [ bigger / smaller ].
3. If your capillaries are driveways, your ______________ are houses.
4. All the blood in your vessels could stretch around the earth ___________ times.
5. When the left side of your heart squeezes, blood goes to your ________________.
6. I have more [ red blood cells / white blood cells ] in my bloodstream.
7. Which lives longer? [ red blood cells / white blood cells ]
8. It takes ______ sec. for blood to go around your body when you’re exercising.
9. Exercising brings __________________ to your muscles.
10. Your heat pumps _________________liters per day!
11. During your lifetime, your heart will beat about _______ billion times.
12. Label the diagram of the circulatory system using these terms:
Aorta (2)
Left Auricle or Atrium (LA)
Left Ventricle (LV)
Lungs
Pulmonary Artery (4)
Pulmonary Vein (1)
Right Auricle (RA)
Right Ventricle (RV)
Vena Cava (3)
Tissues of the body
13. Colour the path of oxygenated blood red and deoxygenated blood
blue.
14. Use arrows to indicate blood flow direction.
Blue Blood or Red Blood?
Rule #1: All flow Away from the heart.
Rule #2: always lead to the heart.
Rule #3: All Arteries carry blood EXCEPT the
Rule #4: All Veins carry blood EXCEPT the

Answer 1

Here are the answers:

1. The systole is the big push and the diastole is the reloading push.
2. As you move away from the heart, your vessels get smaller (individual vessels).
3. If your capillaries are driveways, your houses are the cells (tissues of the body).
4. All the blood in your vessels could stretch around the earth about 2.5 times (≈100,000 km).
5. When the left side of your heart squeezes, blood goes to your body (systemic circulation) via the aorta.
6. I have more red blood cells in my bloodstream.
7. Which lives longer? Red blood cells (≈120 days on average).
8. It takes about 6 seconds for blood to go around your body when you’re exercising (on the order of 5–10 sec).
9. Exercising brings more oxygen (and nutrients) to your muscles (and removes waste/CO2).
10. Your heart pumps about 7,200 liters per day (roughly 7,000 L/day).
11. During your lifetime, your heart will beat about 2.5 billion times (order of 2–3 billion).

12. Labelling hints (for your diagram):
- Pulmonary Vein (1) — returns oxygenated blood from lungs to left atrium.
- Aorta (2) — leaves left ventricle to deliver oxygenated blood to the body.
- Vena Cava (3) — brings deoxygenated blood from the body to the right atrium.
- Pulmonary Artery (4) — takes deoxygenated blood from right ventricle to the lungs.
Also label: Left Auricle/Atrium (LA), Left Ventricle (LV), Right Auricle/Atrium (RA), Right Ventricle (RV), Lungs, Tissues of the body.

13. Colour: oxygenated blood = red (pulmonary veins, left atrium/ventricle, aorta, arteries to tissues). Deoxygenated blood = blue (vena cava, right atrium/ventricle, pulmonary artery, veins from tissues, capillaries returning blood).

14. Arrows for flow direction (one-way):
Tissues → Vena Cava → Right Atrium (RA) → Right Ventricle (RV) → Pulmonary Artery → Lungs → Pulmonary Vein → Left Atrium (LA) → Left Ventricle (LV) → Aorta → Tissues

Blue Blood or Red Blood? (fill-in rules)
- Rule #1: All arteries flow away from the heart.
- Rule #2: All veins always lead to the heart.
- Rule #3: All arteries carry oxygenated blood EXCEPT the pulmonary artery (which carries deoxygenated blood to the lungs).
- Rule #4: All veins carry deoxygenated blood EXCEPT the pulmonary vein (which carries oxygenated blood from the lungs).

If you want, I can produce a labeled diagram image or a simplified diagram you can print.