ECG Level 1 Tutorial: Basic Electric Stuff
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Tutorial: Basic Electric Stuff
This module will teach the basics of electrical physiology in the heart.
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Tutorial: Basic Electric Stuff Vectors
Lessons
42
Times Practiced
1284
Cases Completed
1h 24m
Total Time spent
1m 24s
Average Time
Progress
Accuracy
Efficiency
Accuracy
Efficiency
1 Action potentials Action potentials
2 ECG Deflections ECG Deflections
3 The Limb Leads The Limb Leads
4 The Precordial leads The Precordial leads
5 Electrical Charge Movement Electrical Charge Movement
Current lesson 6 Vectors Vectors
7 Drawing the ECG! Drawing the ECG!
Vectors
In this lesson, we will describe vectors.

In physics, a vector describes the direction that an object is moving and the speed it is moving. Think of an electrical vector as the direction the electrical charge is travelling.

However, it is a little bit complicated because we do not have just one electrical charge moving. We have thousands of cells depolarizing and passing their electrical charges on to their neighbouring cells, all in 3D space. Therefore, we need to simplify.

In the video below, we have drawn lots of little arrows to show the movement of electrical activity at any given location at any given time. Each arrow probably represents thousands of cells depolarizing in a small area of the heart.
 
You can go full screen: click icon in bottom right of video player.


When we talk about the vector of the electrical activity, we are talking about the sum or average of all these little arrows. In the second half of this video, we have added a single large arrow that represents the sum of all the small arrows. This big arrow is The Vector ... in capital letters.

In the next lesson, we will see how The Vector influences the waveforms on the ECG.