Naked Science Forum

Life Sciences => Physiology & Medicine => Topic started by: thedoc on 03/10/2013 21:47:19

Title: How long does it take blood to do a full body circuit?
Post by: thedoc on 03/10/2013 21:47:19
How long does it take a drop of blood to do a full circuit of the system?
Cheers, I love listening to your show.
Richard Almand (from New Zealand)
Asked by Richard Almand


                                        Visit the webpage for the podcast in which this question is answered. (http://www.thenakedscientists.com/HTML/podcasts/naked-scientists/show/20120429/)

[chapter podcast=3948 track=12.04.29/Naked_Scientists_Show_12.04.29_10073.mp3](https://www.thenakedscientists.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.thenakedscientists.com%2FHTML%2Ftypo3conf%2Fext%2Fnaksci_podcast%2Fgnome-settings-sound.gif&hash=f2b0d108dc173aeaa367f8db2e2171bd)  ...or Listen to the Answer[/chapter] or [download as MP3] (http://nakeddiscovery.com/downloads/split_individual/12.04.29/Naked_Scientists_Show_12.04.29_10073.mp3)

Title: Re: How long does it take a drop of blood to do a full circuit of the system?
Post by: Lmnre on 29/04/2012 21:03:59
The time that I've consistently seen is about 20 seconds (https://www.google.com/search?num=30&hl=en&lr=&as_qdr=all&q=blood+circulate+20+seconds&oq=blood+circulate+20+seconds&aq=f&aqi=&aql=1&gs_nf=1&gs_l=serp.3...76816.82738.0.83175.6.6.2.0.0.0.79.297.4.4.0.pfwe.1.rDJw8776Y9Q).
Title: Re: How long does it take a drop of blood to do a full circuit of the system?
Post by: RD on 29/04/2012 21:30:44
Depends what route it takes and how active the person is at the time. 

but total blood volume is ~5 liters, flow rate in aorta at rest is ~100cm3 per second: 5000/100 = 50 seconds
Title: Re: How long does it take a drop of blood to do a full circuit of the system?
Post by: Nizzle on 30/04/2012 11:53:36
Quote from: RD on 29/04/2012 21:30:44
Depends what route it takes and how active the person is at the time. 

but total blood volume is ~5 liters, flow rate in aorta at rest is ~100cm3 per second: 5000/100 = 50 seconds

Indeed. The travel time is affected by route. All blood goes from heart -> lungs -> heart -> body -> heart -> lungs....
Now if the body portion of the route is your foot, it'll take longer to circulate compared to the body portion of the route being your coronary arteries.
Title: None
Post by: Seth on 04/04/2014 05:27:38
What!!!