Explore the heart (3D)
About this app
An anatomical heart with 95 parts: anatomy, cardiac valves, circulation and electrical activation with ECG. Slow motion, transparent walls, disassembly and five simplified condition comparisons connect electrical signals, contraction and blood flow.
With explain mode: an AI tutor walks you through the app, points out what matters in the scene and answers your questions.
Two pumps in one organ
The heart is two coupled pumps: the right heart pumps oxygen-poor blood through the lungs, the left heart pumps oxygen-rich blood through the body, and the septum separates the two sides. Electrical activation triggers contraction: the sinus node in the right atrium sets the pace, the AV node delays conduction and the His–Purkinje system spreads the activation into the ventricles. The valves open and close passively, driven by pressure differences between atrium, ventricle and artery.
What the app shows
A heart built from anatomical part geometries (BodyParts3D) in four views: anatomy, heartbeat, circulation and electrical impulse. In the heartbeat view the four valves open and close through filling, atrial contraction, isovolumetric contraction, ejection and relaxation, and flow arrows run only while a valve is open. Pressure and volume curves of the left ventricle, synthesised heart sounds and a schematic ECG come with it. A comparison panel shows simplified atrial fibrillation, 2:1 AV block, heart attack, an extra beat and mitral regurgitation.
Things to try
Select a structure in the model or the list, make the outer wall transparent with “See inside” and pull the parts apart. Set the heart rate between 40 and 180 beats per minute or choose sleep, rest, jogging or sport, and pause individual phases of the cardiac cycle. Then compare a condition with the normal state: model and ECG together show what changes. These are teaching models, not diagnostic references.
Frequently asked questions
- How does blood flow through the heart?
- Oxygen-poor blood from the venae cavae enters the right atrium, passes through the tricuspid valve into the right ventricle and leaves through the pulmonary valve into the pulmonary trunk towards the lungs. Oxygen-rich blood returns through the pulmonary veins to the left atrium, flows through the mitral valve into the left ventricle and is pumped through the aortic valve into the aorta. Both sides of the heart contract at the same time.
- What do the P wave, QRS complex and T wave on an ECG mean?
- The P wave reflects electrical activation of the atria, the QRS complex activation of the ventricles, and the T wave ventricular repolarisation. The PR interval, from the start of the P wave to the QRS complex, is normally 0.12 to 0.20 s in adults and mostly reflects the delay in the AV node. In each case the electrical activation comes shortly before the contraction.
- What causes the heart sounds?
- The first heart sound occurs at the start of isovolumetric contraction, when the atrioventricular valves (mitral and tricuspid) close and the ventricular muscle tenses. The second heart sound occurs at the end of ejection, when the semilunar valves (aortic and pulmonary) close. The valves move passively, driven by pressure differences.
- What can I do in this app?
- Rotate an anatomical 3D heart, select structures in the model or from a list, make the outer wall transparent and pull the parts apart. In the heartbeat view you follow all four valves, pause individual phases, watch pressure and volume curves and listen to synthesised heart sounds; heart rate can be set between 40 and 180 beats per minute. Further views show circulation and conduction with an ECG, and a comparison panel shows five simplified heart conditions.
Subject: Biology & neuroscience
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