kids encyclopedia robot

Pulmonary artery facts for kids

Kids Encyclopedia Facts

The pulmonary artery is a special blood vessel that connects your heart to your lungs. It's unique because, unlike most arteries that carry oxygen-rich blood, the pulmonary artery carries blood that doesn't have much oxygen.

Diagram of the human heart (cropped)
A diagram showing the pulmonary artery, which carries blood to the lungs.

Here's how it works: Blood from all over your body goes into the right side of your heart. From there, your heart pumps this blood into the pulmonary artery. This artery then takes the blood to tiny blood vessels called capillaries in your lungs. In the lungs, the blood picks up oxygen. Once it's full of oxygen, this fresh blood travels back to the left side of your heart through the pulmonary vein. Finally, your heart pumps this oxygen-rich blood out to the rest of your body!

What is the Pulmonary Artery?

The pulmonary artery is a large blood vessel that starts at the bottom right chamber of your heart, called the right ventricle. It's like the main highway for blood leaving the heart on its way to the lungs. This artery is located near the front and left side of your heart. Its main job is to carry blood that has already delivered its oxygen to the body and now needs to pick up more.

How the Pulmonary Artery Branches

After leaving the heart, the main pulmonary artery goes up a little and then splits into two main branches. Think of it like a tree trunk splitting into two big branches:

  • The right pulmonary artery goes to your right lung.
  • The left pulmonary artery goes to your left lung.

These branches then divide into even smaller vessels inside each lung, reaching all the tiny air sacs where oxygen exchange happens.

Images for kids

  • 3D CT of thorax, annotated

    A 3D scan of the chest showing the pulmonary vessels.

  • Relations of the aorta, trachea, esophagus and other heart structures

    This image shows how the main pulmonary artery is positioned near other important body parts like the aortic root and trachea.

  • Illu pulmonary circuit

    A diagram of the pulmonary circuit, showing how blood flows through the heart and lungs.

  • Gray503

    A cross-section of the chest, showing where the pulmonary artery is located.

  • Computed tomograph of pulmonary vessels

    A CT scan of a normal lung, highlighting different levels of the pulmonary arteries.

  • Bronchial anatomy

    A diagram showing the anatomy of the bronchi, which are air passages in the lungs, along with related vessels.

See also

Kids robot.svg In Spanish: Tronco pulmonar para niños

kids search engine
All content from Kiddle encyclopedia articles (including the article images and facts) can be freely used under Attribution-ShareAlike license, unless stated otherwise. Cite this article:
Pulmonary artery Facts for Kids. Kiddle Encyclopedia.