A normal human contains 5 liters of blood, approximately 2% of which isresident in the systemic (i.e., non-pulmonary) capillaries at any given time.(a) Assuming that the capillaries are 8 μm in diameter, estimate the totallength of capillaries in the body (excluding the lungs).(b) If an average capillary length is 1 mm, how many capillaries are therein the body?(c) Cardiac output is 5 l/min. Assuming that this is evenly distributedthroughout a parallel network consisting of the capillaries found in (b),estimate the pressure drop across the capillary bed. Assume Newtonian,laminar flow in the capillaries with μeff of 3.5 cP. What percentage ofthe total 85mmHg systemic pressure drop is this?
A normal human contains 5 liters of blood, approximately 2% of which is
resident in the systemic (i.e., non-pulmonary) capillaries at any given time.
(a) Assuming that the capillaries are 8 μm in diameter, estimate the total
length of capillaries in the body (excluding the lungs).
(b) If an average capillary length is 1 mm, how many capillaries are there
in the body?
(c) Cardiac output is 5 l/min. Assuming that this is evenly distributed
throughout a parallel network consisting of the capillaries found in (b),
estimate the pressure drop across the capillary bed. Assume Newtonian,
laminar flow in the capillaries with μeff of 3.5 cP. What percentage of
the total 85mmHg systemic pressure drop is this?
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