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The Heart and Monitoring Heart Function

Heart rate, pulse rate and cardiac output

  • 3 things to know
  • Components 01, 02 and 03

Overview

Recall questions on stroke volume and calculating cardiac output, the low resting heart rate of athletes, what a pulse is and how to take one, primary and secondary data, and how heart rate and stroke volume change during and after exercise, with the variables to control.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

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Process

How is a pulse rate taken by hand and converted to beats per minute, and what mistake must be avoided?

Key term

State the equation linking cardiac output, heart rate and stroke volume.

Numbers

A person has a heart rate of 65 beats per minute and a stroke volume of 72 cm³. Calculate the cardiac output in dm³ min⁻¹.

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

  1. 1

    Define stroke volume.

    Model answer

    It is the volume of blood pumped out of one ventricle in a single contraction.

  2. 2

    State the equation linking cardiac output, heart rate and stroke volume.

    Model answer

    Cardiac output = heart rate × stroke volume.

  3. 3

    A person has a heart rate of 65 beats per minute and a stroke volume of 72 cm³. Calculate the cardiac output in dm³ min⁻¹.

    Model answer

    The cardiac output is 65 × 72 = 4680 cm³ min⁻¹, which is 4.68 dm³ min⁻¹.

  4. 4

    An athlete has a resting cardiac output of 6.0 dm³ min⁻¹ and a heart rate of 80 beats per minute. Calculate the stroke volume.

    Model answer

    The stroke volume is 6000 ÷ 80 = 75 cm³.

  5. 5

    Why does a trained endurance athlete have a lower resting heart rate than an untrained person?

    Model answer

    Training enlarges and strengthens the ventricles so the stroke volume is larger, and fewer beats per minute are needed to give the same resting cardiac output.

  6. 6

    What is a pulse?

    Model answer

    It is the wave of stretch and elastic recoil that passes along an artery wall each time the left ventricle forces blood into the aorta.

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