Final answer:
A pulse is the sensation of blood being pumped by the heart, which can be measured in beats per minute. The pulse length in physics describes the time duration of a pulse and, combined with amplitude, helps to determine the wave forms in a medium. Pulse measurement and wave form prediction apply mathematical concepts such as rates and scaling factors.
Step-by-step explanation:
When you feel your pulse, you are feeling the pressure of the blood as it is pumped by the heart through the arteries. To measure your pulse rate, you can count the number of beats for 10 seconds and then multiply by 6 to estimate the number of beats per minute. There should ideally be a factor of 6 difference between the two measurements if your pulse stays consistent. The same factor of 6 is also applied if you need to calculate the time per beat from your heart rate.
In physics, when discussing pulse length and wave forms, the length of a pulse refers to the duration of time from the beginning of the first phase to the end of the last phase of a pulse. If a pulse is traveling at 1 meter per second, after 1 second, it will have moved 1 meter from its original position.
The amplitude of a pulse is indicative of how far the medium is displaced from its rest position, while the pulse length can be considered as both the physical length the pulse occupies in space and its temporal duration.