How Blood Vessels Work?

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How Blood Vessels Work [capillaries, veins, arteries] by : sidhant halka Blood vessels are hollow tubes that carry blood through miles and miles of blood vessels in a never ending stream. If you could take all the blood vessels of a average size child and line them up they could reach about 60,000 miles long. In an adult the blood vessels could reach 100,000 miles long. The blood vessels carry blood between the heart, different tissues, and organs of the body. There are three types of blood vessels: arteries, veins, and capillaries. These blood vessels have the ability to expand to allow more blood to flow through them. They can also contract to help control the flow of blood. The blood flows through the big arteries into smaller ones. The smallest arteries, called arterioles, direct the blood flow into the capillaries. The capillaries connect to the smallest veins called venules. The Veins then return blood to the heart. The arteries are elastic, muscular tubes that carry the blood from the left ventricle of the heart to the capillaries. The walls of the arteries are thicker than the other vessels because of the high pressure. The largest artery is the aorta it is about 1 inch in diameter. The walls of the arteries are 3 layers thick. The inner layer, or tunica intima, consists of single flatten cells called endothelium. The middle layer, or tunica media, is the thicker part of the artery wall. The outer layer or tunica externa is composed of fibrous connective tissue that gives strength to the wall of the artery. The thickness of arteries depends on where it is located within the arterial system. The wall thickness of the arteries prevents the arteries from collapsing. Sometimes there is a weakness in a wall of an artery and this causes the artery to bulge. This abnormal expansion of the artery is called an aneurysm. There is
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