Science Fact Finder | The Human Body - How Does The Body Introduce Oxygen To The Blood And Where Does This Happen?

How does the body introduce oxygen to the blood and where does this happen?

Blood becomes oxygenated in the lungs, through the following process:

Blood that contains carbon dioxide, a waste product, first enters the right auricle or atrium, on the right side of the heart. The blood then travels to the right ventricle, which contracts and pushes the blood through the pulmonary artery and to the lungs. (Arteries are large elastic-walled blood vessels that carry blood from the heart to other parts of the body.) In the lungs, carbon dioxide is removed and oxygen is added to the blood.

The oxygenated blood then travels through the pulmonary vein, to the left side of the heart. (Veins are vessels that transport blood to the heart.) It first enters the left auricle, which pushes it through a one-way valve into the left ventricle. The left ventricle pumps oxygenated blood to all portions of the...

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