Smoking tobacco is bad for your circulatory health. In an attempt to maintain the blood’s capacity to deliver oxygen, the body increases its red blood cell production, and this increases the viscosity of the blood. In addition, nicotine from tobacco causes arteries to constrict. For a nonsmoker, normal blood flow requires a pressure difference of 8.0 mm Hg between the two ends of an artery. Assume that smoking increases viscosity by 10% and reduces the arterial diameter to 90% of its previous value. For a smoker, what pressuredifference is needed to maintain the same blood flow?
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.
Smoking tobacco is bad for your circulatory health. In an attempt to maintain the blood’s capacity to deliver oxygen, the body increases its red blood cell production, and this increases the viscosity of the blood. In addition, nicotine from tobacco causes arteries to constrict. For a nonsmoker, normal blood flow requires a pressure difference of 8.0 mm Hg between the two ends of an artery. Assume that smoking increases viscosity by 10% and reduces the arterial diameter to 90% of its previous value. For a smoker, what pressure
difference is needed to maintain the same blood flow?
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