A biology student wants to understand how blood flows through the aorta. To model the heart and aorta, she sets up two identical pressure-controlled tanks that push blood through a 2-centimeter diameter tube. Her results are shown in the table below. Using her findings, predict the outcome of the experiment if the pressure in a person's aorta were to triple, assuming her setup is an accurate model

Question

anonymous · Answer

It will decrease the flow rate by a factor of 0.5.

 It will increase the flow rate by a factor of 3.

 It will increase the flow rate by a factor of 6.

 It will decrease the flow rate by a factor of 2

anonymous · Answer

Blood Pressure

(in kilograms per square centimeter)

Flow Rate

(in milliliters per second)

Tank 1

1

20

Tank 2

0.5

10

anonymous · Answer

Note that halving the pressure here (from Tank 1's 1 kg/cm^2 to Tank 2's 0.5 kg/cm^2) causes the pressure to halve as well (T1's 20 mL/s to T2's 10 mL/s). Using a bit of intuition you should recognize that this means the blood flow rate is proportional to the pressure inside the aorta. Thus you can predict that tripling the pressure will triple with flow rate -- i.e. increase the flow rate by a factor of 3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poiseuille%27s_law

anonymous · Answer

so its b?

anonymous · Answer

Think about it. Tank 2 has half the pressure and also half the flow rate. If you instead triple the pressure, won't you have triple the flow rate?