Pig Heart Dissection Lab Writeup

November 8 2011 Before we started the dissection, we made some observations. We saw that the heart was frozen, so it would be cold, and all the blood would have clotted. The teacher had to hand out all the tools, before we could start. We had lab coats and gloves to protect us from blood, safety goggles to protect us from sharp objects, and the dissection kit, to help us dissect the heart. In the dissection kit, there was a scalpel, scissors, tweezers, and a poker. We were ready to get started. My friend Lana went to rinse the heart, and I dried it. the heart felt cold and squishy. Then we set the heart back on the table. First we started with the membrane. (The membrane is the thin layer of skin on the outside of he heart) Lana used the poker to start scraping it off, and I used tweezers the help. Then we switched. I used the poker and Lana used the tweezers. Oliver and Tommy didnt want to touch the heart, so they took notes. Then I started with scissors. I used them to cut open the left ventricle of the heart. The pulmonary artery was very hard to cut through, but we did it. Once we entered the left ventricle, we noticed that there were tiny holes inside. Then we used our hands to open the heart, and we saw its internal structure. We saw lots of blood vessels, and dried blood. Next we went into the right atrium. We continued to use the scissors. There were a lot of veins and blood vessels to cut through, and then we had to cut open a main artery. It was really tough, and quite thick. Then, Lana used the scalpel to examine were the arteries came out of the heart. After that, we found the two big arteries name inferior and superior vena cava. The superior vena cava was bigger the the inferior. And right next to the arteries, we saw these objects that looked like beans. the we soft and wet. We cut them open, but we didnt see anything. And before we could do anything else, we had to stop our dissection, because it was time to clean up. Overall, it was a fun experiment, and we all enjoyed it.

Miles Nulf

Monday, November 14, 2011 8:42:54 AM Hong Kong SAR China Time

Scientists use pig hearts for tests and experiments, because pig hearts are very similar to human hearts, so they can study it. Human hearts have 4 chambers inside them, and so do pig hearts. Amphibians and reptiles also have similar hearts to humans, but scientists dont use them for testing, normally. Next time, I might help other people get more involved with the experiment, because some people didnt contribute to the experiment. So, I hope you thought our dissection was interesting! Thanks for reading!

Miles Nulf

Monday, November 14, 2011 8:42:54 AM Hong Kong SAR China Time