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A small artery has a length of 1.1x10⁻³m and a radius of 2.5x10⁻⁵m. if the pressure drop across the artery is 1.55 lpa what is the flow rate through the artery?

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Final answer:

Using Poiseuille's law, we can calculate the flow rate through an artery given its dimensions and pressure drop, contingent on knowing the viscosity of the blood, which can be determined from the provided temperature of 37 degrees Celsius.

Step-by-step explanation:

To calculate the flow rate through an artery, we can use Poiseuille's law, which describes the flow of viscous fluids through pipes. The law is usually given by the equation Q = \(\frac{\pi r^4 \Delta P}{8 \eta L}\), where Q is the flow rate, r is the radius of the artery, \(\Delta P\) is the pressure drop, \(\eta\) is the viscosity of the blood, and L is the length of the artery.

Given that the length of the artery (L) is 1.1 x 10-3 m, the radius of the artery (r) is 2.5 x 10-5 m, and the pressure drop (\(\Delta P\)) is 1.3 kPa (or 1,300 Pa), the only unknown in our equation is the viscosity (\(\eta\)), which depends on the temperature. Since the temperature is provided as 37° C, the typical viscosity of blood at this temperature is around 3.5 x 10-3 Pa·s.

Plugging these values into Poiseuille's law and solving for Q, we get the flow rate through the artery. Since the viscosity and temperature were not explicitly given in the question, the exact value for the flow rate cannot be determined without this information.

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