THE PHYSICS BEHIND HOW A SPHYNOMANOMETER WORKS

By
Mia Claire Anderson

For Physics 6
Prof. Rupa De

Spring 2020
Los Angeles Trade Technical College
May 16, 2020

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A sphygmomanometer is a device used by health care providers to measure the blood pressure of a
patient. The cuff is wrapped around an extremity with a superficial artery. The femoral artery and the
brachial artery are usual locations that are chosen. The rubber bulb pushes air into the cuff which then
collapses the artery. No pulse is present at this point at the pulses that are distal to the encroached
artery.

Figure 1: Parts of an Aneroid

Syphnomanometer

The air in the cuff is released using a knob at the bottom

of the sphygmomanometer. The pressure of blood flowing the arteries fall just below the systolic
pressure, the arteries in the body open slightly. The systolic pressure represent the pressure in the
arteries that correspond to the contraction of the left and right ventricles of the heart. Blood flows for a
short interval. This goes on until the arterial pressure becomes less than the cuff pressure. When the
systolic blood pressure becomes bigger than the pressure of the cuff, as the cuff’s pressure is gradually
being decreased, the artery takes the shape of a venturimeter. The venturimeter is characters by a tiny
area that looks like a throat. Once the blood expands after the bottle neck , turbulence is generated.

Figure 2: Comparing the blood flow in

a venturimeter akin to the blood flow
in an inflated blood pressure cuff

The sound produced is known as Korotkoff sound. This is

the sound heard through a stethoscope. The point in
the manometer where the needed first jumps that is followed by consistent Korotkoff sounds ins known
as the systolic blood pressure. The systolic blood pressure heard represents turbulent blood flow

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through the arteries. These turbulence disturbs air molecules as sound waves. These sound waves are
now picked up by a stethoscope. The normal range for systolic blood pressure is 90-120 mmgh.

As the pressure goes lower, the opening of the artery becomes longer with each cardiac cycle until the
flow becomes laminar. A laminar flow means that the fluid flows in parallel layers without crossing each
other’s path. Laminar flow is unique in the sense that there are no vortices in the fluid. The sound then
stops because of the lack of turbulence. . This marks the points where the Korotkoff sound gest muffled.
In the manometer, the point where the needle jumps where the sound is no longer muffled in the
stethoscope represents diastolic pressure. The normal range for diastolic blood pressure for an adult is
60-90 mmhg.

Principles in physics that affect blood pressure is Bernoulli’s Principle. Bernoulli’s principles states that, “
Within a horizontal flow of fluid, points of higher fluid speed will have less pressure than the points of
slower fluid speed”.

Fluids that cannot be compressed need to speed up in order to maintain a constant flow rate when they
reach a constricted section. The volume after the constricted area does negative work on the fluid in
the dilated area. The volume of the fluid on the constricted area acts a dissipated force. In the case of
the blood pressure, inflating the cuff to the point of artery constriction, causes a difference in pressure
between the two sides.

Figure 3. Illustration showing

constricted area doing negative work
acting a dissipative force

Fluids needs to increase its speed to have a net positive work done on it. Therefore, the work done by
the force from the pressure on the left side must be larger than the amount of negative work from the
right side of the artery that was constricted by the cuff. The force required to finally open it refers to the
systolic blood pressure. Some of these relationship are expressed through Bernoulli’s equation

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 Figure 4: Bernoulli’s Equation

P1 refers to the pressure energy. Pv1 refers to the

Kinetic energy per unit volume. PgH refers to the potential energy per unit volume. V refers to velocity
or speed. A refers to area. H refers to height.

Bernoulli’s equation still applies the conservation of energy for flowing fluid. It is the result of the
application of any kinetic or potential energy by any external work done by the system. While
Bernoulli’s principle is used to discuss some things are happening. It does not cover everything in
entirely. Note that Bernoulli’s’ principle applies to a closed circuit with laminar flow where the flow is
constant. The heart producing a pulsatile and turbulent flow is not covered by Bernoulli’s principles.
Second, branching of different arteries to different capillaries has a different calculation. It does not
mean that blood is exerting more pressure on the surface of the arteries, arterioles and aorta. In smaller
blood vessels such as capillaries, there is more surface area to be covered to the blood pressure tends
to be much lower in those areas. This is the reason why in order to obtain a correct blood pressure
reading, a standard procedure is used. Things that are kept constant include control of the patient’s
posture, the patient’s intake of alcohol, depressants and caffeine, and which arteries are used. These
standard steps allow for a control of extraneous variables leading to a more or less concrete way of
interpreting a patient’s blood pressure.

Factors that affect the physics of the blood pressure itself include Hydrostatic Pressure and Oncotic
Pressure and the equation of continuity. Hydrostatic pressure in blood vessels is affected by the
pressure that the blood pushes against the walls of the arteries. Hydrostatics pressure is calculated using
P= Rho(g) (d) . Where rho is the liquid’s density, g is the force of gravity and d is the height of the liquid.

The force opposing hydrostatic pressure is known as oncotic pressure. The formula for oncotic pressure
is ne (c/M) X R T. c is the concentration in g/L. M refers to the molecular weight of the molecules. c/M is
the molar concentration of substances while (mol/L)R refers to the universal constant. Oncotic pressure
is affected by the proteins in the blood vessel’s plasma. It displaces water molecules. As it displaces
water molecules, it creates a deficit of water molecules . The factors interacting with one another
moves fluid from the intravascular space to the intracellular and interstitial spaces.

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The equation of continuity is simply a mass balance of a fluid flowing through a stationary volume
element. The rate of the mass accumulation in this particular volume is equivalent to the rate of the
mass in after the mass out has been subtracted. The formula is as follows.

Figure 5: Equation of Continuity

Formula

In medicine, the continuity equation can be used to

compute blood component speed as it passes through
dilated or constricted arteries including the direction of the acceleration. Note that the mass of a moving
object does not change as it flows through a system. No fluid flows in or out across the sides of the
gblood vessels since the velocity of fluids is tangent to each point on the wall. Other things that can be
computed using the continuity of equation are the system venous return, instantaneous rate of blood
flow, conservation of total blood flow and ventricular function.

In summary, while the blood pressure is the gold standards for taking the patient’s blood pressure in the
office setting, many factors still affect it. A deeper understanding of physics as applied to the patient’s
body and health is needed to understand its correlations with a patient’s health status.

REFERENCES

https://physicsmuseum.uq.edu.au/sphygmomanometer

https://www.khanacademy.org/science/physics/fluids/fluid-dynamics/a/what-is-bernoullis-equation

https://biology.stackexchange.com/questions/36443/how-does-bernoulli-s-principle-apply-to-the-
cardiovascular-system

https://www.google.com/search?q=equation+of+continuity&sxsrf=ALeKk01NBL1u79Q1QwqXUYak-
iG1BPWjtA:1589738601849&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjy-
ZflvbvpAhVISK0KHbejAX8Q_AUoAXoECBAQAw&biw=1097&bih=554#imgrc=G4FHxwBvVrILmM