Question

An artery branches into two smaller veins, identical arteries as shown in the diagram. The largest artery has a diameter of 10 mm. The two branches have the same diameter = 5 mm. The average speed of the blood in the main artery is given in the diagram. The blood has a density of 1004 kg/m^3.

Main artery Vo = 0.50 m/s before it branches out into two veins.

QUESTION: Calculate v, the average blood flow speed in the two branches of smaller radius.

Answer 1

What you need to apply here is called the contnuity equation. It says that the product of velocity and TOTAL flow area is constant, for incompressible flow. Liquids exhibit incompressible flow.

Since the two smaller arteries have, TOGETHER, half the area of the main artery, the velocity in each smaller artery must be twice that in the main artery, or 1.0 m/s.

Answer 2

Thank you SO very much!