Why are the walls of the ventricles more muscular than the walls of the atria?

Question

anonymous · Answer

Think about where the blood flows when it leaves the ventricles compared to when it leaves the atria. Would certain paths require more pumping power and thus more thicker chamber walls?

anonymous · Answer

The ventricles are the lower chambers of the heart which pump blood around the body. They require more muscular walls to enable them to have enough power to pump the blood around the body effectively. 

 The atria are the upper chambers in the heart and squeeze the blood returning from the lungs and body into the ventricles. Because this is such a short distance, they require a lot less strength to be able to do there job effectively than the ventricles do. 

 The left ventricle has an even more muscular wall than the right ventricle, because the right ventricle pumps blood to the lungs only, whereas the left ventricle pumps blood to all the other organs and therefore has a further distance to cover.

blues · Answer

It is totally unacceptable to plagiarise by copying and pasting work from other sources! It is perfectly OK to hat tip your sources by posting the link where you got it - but it is NOT OK to present someone else's work as your own. On OpenStudy or anywhere else. http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Why_are_ventricles_walls_more_muscular_than_atria_walls