1. SA node sends an impulse causing the atria to contract 2. Blood moves from the right atrium into the right ventricle past the tricuspid valve 3. Blood moves from the left atrium into the left ventricle past the mitral or bicuspid valve 4. Impulse pauses at AV node to allow for maximum blood to be squeezed into the ventricles 5. Impulse travels to the AV bundle (or bundle of His) and down the bundle branches 6. Impulse travels out Purkinje fibers causing the apex to contract 7. The apex contraction increases the blood pressure in the ventricles causing the Mitral and Tricuspid (AV) valves to close. 8. Atria repolarize and begin to fill 9. Purkinje fibers cause the ventricle walls and papillary muscles to depolarize (contract) 10. Papillary muscles hold the AV valves shut (keep them from prolapsing) through the chordae tendineae connection 11. The aortic and pulmonary semilunar valves open when the pressure is higher in the ventricles than in the major arteries 12. Blood moves from right ventricle to pulmonary trunk/arteries past the pulmonary semilunar valve 13. Blood moves from left ventricle to aorta past the aortic semilunar valve 14. Blood pathway is arteries to arterioles, to capillaries (or capillary bed), to venules, veins and vena cava back to the right atrium 15. The ventricles start to repolarize (relax) which decreases the pressure in the ventricles 16. When the pressure is lower in the ventricles than in the major arteries, blood moves back toward heart shutting semilunar valves 17. When the aortic valve closes, the openings to the coronary arteries are exposed 18. Back pressure in the aorta pushes blood out the left and right coronary arteries supplying the heart with oxygenated blood 19. The AV valves open and blood moves from the atria into the ventricles when the ventricular pressure falls below atrial pressure. 20. The process starts again when the SA node fires causing the atria to contract.