Electrocardiography

High school (ages 12+)
Human Body

Name:

Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/electrocardiography

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. What is the scientific principle?Records the electrical potentials generated by cardiac muscle depolarization and repolarization
2. What is the discoverer?Willem Einthoven is credited with the invention of the practical electrocardiograph
3. What is an electrocardiogram (ECG)?An ECG is a test that records the heart's electrical signals without cutting the skin. Electrodes on the chest, arms, and legs pick up the tiny currents, and the machine shows them as a picture on a screen or paper.
4. How do doctors listen to the heart's electrical beat with an ECG?Electrodes on the skin feel the heart's tiny electric currents. The ECG machine makes the signals bigger so doctors can see the pattern of the heart’s beat on a monitor.

Depolarization: The electrical activation of heart muscle cells, leading to contraction.
Repolarization: The electrical recovery of heart muscle cells to their resting state after contraction.
Einthoven's Triangle: A conceptual framework of three limb leads used to derive standard ECG leads.