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Changes Of The Cardiac System

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The purpose of this experiment was to model the changes of the cardiac system under different forms of stress in a non-invasive fashion: primarily using a sphygmomanometer cuff, a stethoscope, and an electrocardiogram. As different stressors were placed upon the subjects, their cardiac systems responded accordingly to the diverse stimuli. We recorded and calculated quantitatively their responses so to further understand each component of the cardiac system. The cardiac system, as mentioned in the introduction, is comprised of three major parts: the heart, the blood vessels, and the blood itself. The heart is the primary mechanism that acts as a pump to establish a pressure gradient to move blood through the system using blood vessels. Without the heart in operation, the body would cease to have the vital flow of blood which contains necessary oxygen, nutrients, and waste needing to be disposed of. The vessels are the roads that blood travels through and they vary in size to increase or decrease blood pressure through them. This is how a sphygmomanometer and stethoscope combined can be used to show and derive how blood pressure. By occluding the artery in the arm, the blood passing through has an audible turbulent flow as opposed to the inaudible normal laminar flow. The turbulent flow creates what is known as Korotkoff sounds which are indicative of the sound of systolic pressure. As you release the pressure from the cuff, at the first sound, mark the pressure as the

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