Experiment 2

Title : GASES EXCHANGE IN ANIMALS

Objective : To relate the effect of various factors on the human pulse rate.

Materials :

1. Stopwatch
2. Stethoscope
3. Stairs
4. Facilities for taking vigorous exercise which is running track for performing 100 metre
sprint.

Procedure :

A) Effect of Posture on The Pulse Rate

1) The subject was lied down quietly for five minutes and then his pulse rate was taken.

2) The subject then stood up for three minutes and the pulse rate was again be taken.

B) Effect of Hyperventilation on Pulse Rate

1) The subject’s pulse rate rate was continuously taken for two minutes by the partner when
the subject seated and relaxed as possible.

2) The subject was engaged in forced deep breathing for 30 seconds; as deeply and
frequently as possible, but with minimum effort to the body as a whole.

3) The subject was then breath normally for five minutes and his pulse rate then was
recorded by the partner for every fifteen seconds.

C) Effect of Exercise on Pulse Rate

1) The subject was stepped onto 1 stair and then down again, once every three seconds and
was taken for fifteen seconds.

2) The subject’s pulse rate was taken immediately after the exercise at 10 seconds intervals
until it returns to the normal standing rate.
3) The subject was then done a 100-metre sprint as a vigorous exercise and the pulse rate
was taken and compared with the previous exercise.

4) A graph was plotted; pulse rate on the vertical axis and time on the horizontal axis.

Result :

Table 1 : Pulse Rate in Difference Conditions

Trial ( pulse rate / minute ) Average

1st 2nd 3rd
A Lying down 63 59 61 61
.
Standing rate 74 76 72 74
Pulse rate / 10s (x/10s from x/60s) =12.33/10s
1st – Light Total
10s 20s 30s 40s 50s 60s 78
10 14 15 14 12 13
C 2nd – Vigorous
. Exercise 10s 20s 30s 40s 50s 60s
10 21 26 24 25 25
219
70s 80s 90s 100s 110s 110s
15 19 15 14 13 12

Table 2 : Hyperventilation on Pulse Rate

Minute Trial ( Pulse rate / minute )

Seated and relaxed After deep breath
1st 15 18
 16 19
13 13
14 14
2nd 12 16
15 15
16 13
18 11
3rd 12
13
12
12
4th 15
19
18
20
5th 16
20
16
13
10
Total 119 315

Post laboratory questions :

1. What are the factors might cause a person’s pulse rate to increase?

There are several factors that can increase pulse rate which are exercise, having a
fever, stress, age, an overactive thyroid gland, anaemia, heart disease.

2. Why do pulse rates increase during exercise?

The arteries expand as the ventricles pump this blood out of the heart, and this is
known as a pulse. Exercise will increase the need for additional food or energy, and
 oxygen in the body. The breathing will increase to rid the body of carbon dioxide and
to provide more oxygen, and the pulse will increase to provide the extra food and
oxygen needed.

3. Do you think this is a valid way of assessing a person’s fitness? Can you suggest a
better method?

No because this method have to take the pulse rate manually by counting them and
there will surely have error in counting the pulse. The better way to assessing a
person’s fitness is by using the fitness machine that usually being used by athletes
because the machine will also shown a fat level, muscle level and many other things
beside the fitness level.

4. How would you account for your results in terms of your particular lifestyles (i.e. do
you take regular exercise, do you smoke etc?)

The point for my result in assessing fitness is 14 which is good. This shown that the
subject take regular exercise, do not smoking and also eating a balance diet.

5. What conclusions can you draw from your results?

The fitness of the subject is in a good level.

Discussions :

A normal resting heart rate for adults ranges from 60 to 100 beats a minute. Generally, a
lower heart rate at rest implies more efficient heart function and better cardiovascular fitness.
For example, a well-trained athlete might have a normal resting heart rate closer to 40 beats
a minute. There are several effect of various factors on the human pulse rate. In this
experiment, the effects that are being tested were effect of the posture on the pulse rate,
effect of hyperventilation on pulse rate, and the effect of exercise on pulse rate.
 For effect of the posture on the pulse rate, the pulse rate was taken in two ways.
First, the subject was lied down for five minutes and stood up for three minutes. For both
postures, the pulse rate were taken. The result shows that in standing position, the pulse
rate are higher than in lying down position. The average pulse rate for standing position and
lying down were 74 and 61 respectively. This is because when standing up, the heart has to
work harder, against gravity, to get the blood pumped through the body and back to the
heart. It beats faster to overcome the effects of gravity. Lying down neutralizes gravity, so
the heart does not have to work as hard anymore. The heart rate slows down.

For the effect of hyperventilation on pulse rate, when the subject was seated and
relaxed, the total pulse rate is 119 beats while after the subject was taken a deep breath, the
total pulse rate is 315 beats. This is because after the engage deep breath, breathing
speeds up to get more oxygen and to get rid of more carbon dioxide. The pulse rate will also
increase from its normal rate.

For the effect of exercise on pulse rate, when the subject was doing a light exercise,
the total pulse rate are 78 beats while when the subject was doing a vigorous exercise which
is 100m sprint, the total pulse rate are 219 beats. This is because the heart pump the blood
more, the body need more oxygen and energy when doing a vigorous exercise, so the rate
pulse are increasing.

There are several errors that happened when conducting this experiment. First, the
error in counting the pulse rate. To prevent this, the counter person have to be more alert to
ensure the number of the pulse rate is correctly counted. Next, used a wrong method to
conduct this experiment. To prevent this, make sure to read the manual properly before
conducting the experiment.

Conclusion :

Different factors will give different effects on the pulse rate. The higher the activity, the higher
the pulse rate.

References :

Wikipedia. (2018, March 8). Heart rate. Retrieved from

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heart_rate
Live Strong. (2017, September 11). Why Does Your Heart Rate Increase When You Are
Vertical Vs. Horizontal? Retrieved from https://www.livestrong.com/article/351591-why-does-
your-heart-rate-increase-when-you-are-vertical-vs-horizontal/

BBC. The effect of exercise on pulse and breathing rate. Retrieved from
http://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/standard/biology/the_body_in_action/changing_levels_of_perf
ormance/revision/4/

Heart.org. (2018, January 18). All About Heart Rate (Pulse). Retrieved from
http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/Conditions/HighBloodPressure/GettheFactsAboutHighBlo
odPressure/All-About-Heart-Rate-Pulse_UCM_438850_Article.jsp