Human Body - Week 10 - Liver Model

Week 10: We made a model of the liver.

The liver cleans our blood. Blood enters the liver full of oxygen through the hepatic artery directly from the heart. It also enters the liver full of nutrients via the Portal Vein. Inside the liver, the blood is mixed together and filtered to remove toxins, wastes and chemicals.

Just like a honeycomb, the liver is made up of hexagonal chambers. In the liver each chamber is called a lobule. The main vein and artery which enter the liver are subdivided and enter the lobules at the corners. Inside the lobules blood is cleaned and bile used in the digestive system is produced.

We created a model of the liver using toilet paper rolls, yarn, staples and paper towel. David Macaulay's The Way We Work is the reference we have been using to inspire our human body science activities.

 First we folded several toilet paper tubes into hexagons and stapled them together.

Three strands of yarn were added to the corners of the hexagons. The red yarn represented the arterioles which carries oxygen rich blood from the heart to the liver, the blue yarn represented the venules which carries nutrient rich blood to the liver and the green yarn represented the bile duct carrying bile to the gall bladder for storage and use in the duodenum.

Each lobule was stuffed with a paper towel containing a white strand of yarn. The tissue paper represented the hepatocyte cells of the liver and the white yarn was the central vein leading out of each lobule and back to the heart.

Each of the veins, arteries, and bile ducts were joined (braided) together to form a larger vein, artery or duct leading into or out of the liver. After doing this project I will always remember that the liver cleans blood and is made of hexagons!
 

This post is linked to:
We Made That
True Aim Education
It's Playtime
Real Family Fun

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