The blood pressure difference across a capillary in a human body is approximately 22 torr. Assume that a human body contains 1×1010 capillaries with an average length of 8 × 10−4 m and an average diameter of 7×10−6 m. Although blood is a non-Newtonian fluid and contains red blood cells with diameter near 7×10−6 m, assume that a Newtonian viscosity of 0.004 kg m−1 s−1 can be used (“Blood is thicker than water”). Estimate the volume of blood flowing through the human circulatory system in 1.00 minute, assuming Poiseuille’s equation and assuming that the resistance to flow in the arteries and veins is negligible compared with that in the capillaries. The actual volume is approximately 5 liter per minute, which corresponds roughly to the entire volume of blood in the body circulating each minute.
Fluid Pressure
The term fluid pressure is coined as, the measurement of the force per unit area of a given surface of a closed container. It is a branch of physics that helps to study the properties of fluid under various conditions of force.
Gauge Pressure
Pressure is the physical force acting per unit area on a body; the applied force is perpendicular to the surface of the object per unit area. The air around us at sea level exerts a pressure (atmospheric pressure) of about 14.7 psi but this doesn’t seem to bother anyone as the bodily fluids are constantly pushing outwards with the same force but if one swims down into the ocean a few feet below the surface one can notice the difference, there is increased pressure on the eardrum, this is due to an increase in hydrostatic pressure.
The blood pressure difference across a capillary in a human body is approximately 22 torr. Assume that a human body contains 1×1010 capillaries with an average length of 8 × 10−4 m and an average diameter of 7×10−6 m. Although blood is a non-Newtonian fluid and contains red blood cells with diameter near 7×10−6 m, assume that a Newtonian viscosity of 0.004 kg m−1 s−1 can be used (“Blood is thicker than water”). Estimate the volume of blood flowing through the human circulatory system in 1.00 minute, assuming Poiseuille’s equation and assuming that the resistance to flow in the arteries and veins is negligible compared with that in the capillaries. The actual volume is approximately 5 liter per minute, which corresponds roughly to the entire volume of blood in the body circulating each minute.
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