Transportation

The human transportation system is comprised (made up of) of three main components. These are the heart, the blood vessels, and the blood.

The Main Functions of Circulation are: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Delivery of Nutrients (including oxygen) Removal of Waste (including carbon dioxide) Blood Clotting Immunity Regulation of Body Temperature Distribution of Hormones

*The term transportation often includes the respiratory along with the circulatory system.

Measuring Pulse
In todays investigation, we took our resting heart rate by measuring our
pulse. A pulse is a change in the diameter of arteries following a heart contraction.

We used the radial

artery near the base of

our thumbs to measure pulse. The easiest locations for measuring your pulse are on the underside of your wrist directly beneath the thumb area or directly under the back of your jawbone toward the neck.

*Question: In our investigation, why did we measure our resting heart rate three times to obtain an average?

Heart Rate
Maximum heart rate is the highest heart rate you can attain during strenuous physical activity. This rate will diminish as you get older although maximum heart rate does not appear to be related to fitness. The more important indicator of fitness is the length of time it takes for your heart to return to its resting level following physical activity. The recovery time will diminish as you become more fit.

Stroke Volume refers to how much blood is pumped per beat of the

heart. It is affected by two factors. 1. How easily the heart fills with blood = flexibility of ventricles 2. How easily/completely the heart empties = strength of ventricular contractions Regular cardiovascular exercise will enlarge the ventricular chambers and increase their dispensability (stretchiness). Athletes who are very fit have high stroke volumes. This means they can maintain high oxygen delivery to tissues at low heart rates. Some elite endurance trained athletes like Olympic cross-country skiers have resting heart rates of as low as 30 beats/minute.