Name______Date______Period______

Activity 2.1.1: What Is a Pump?

Introduction

The human heart is a pump you read in Unit 1, when the heart stops a person can die unless the heart is restarted or some intervention is used to pump blood to the tissues. That is why Anna Garcia died; her heart stopped pumping, consequently blood stopped flowing through her body. Lacking the resources normally carried by the blood, including oxygen nutrients, Ms. Garcia’s body cells could no long survive she died.

As you learned in Unit One, the cardiovascular system provides your body’s cells the resources needed for life provides a transport system to get rid of waste. The most important component of this system is the muscular, four-chambered pump called the human heart. Before you begin a close examination of a heart, it is important to develop a general understanding of what a pump is how it functions.

How many pumps do you have in or around your home?How often do you depend on them? Do you even know? The answer is probably more than 10!

Think of the many substances you use on a daily basis that are in some way related to pumps: water faucet, toilet, the washing machine, the car, the air conditioner, the refrigerator, liquid soap dispensers, spray bottles, many others. Pumps are a machine we tend to take for granted.

Think of three examples of pumps you might consider amazing because of the work each accomplishes. One example might be a pump that supplies a water tower with the water for an area of a town. Another example might be the pump on a fire truck that can pump water many stories high to fight a fire in a high rise building. The most important pump in your life is a living pump, your heart. During an average lifetime, the heart pumps over 55 million gallons of blood through a human body.

In this activity, you a partner will build a simple pump to move 150 mL of water from one flask to a second flask that is elevated.

Equipment

  • 2 flasks, 250 mL
  • 2 lengths of rubber tubing,(4/16” diameter, 15 cm 25 cm)
  • 1 two-holed stopper that fits a 250 mL flask
  • 2 lengths of glass tubing (7 mm outside diameter, 20 cm 10 cm length)
  • 1 pinch clamp
  • 1 balloon
  • 1 piece of string, 1 meter in length
  • 1 piece 2-inch wide duct tape (20 cm)
  • Sharpie pen
  • Water
  • Laboratory Journal

Procedure

At the completion of this activity, you should be able to:

  • Build a simple pump.
  • Explain 2 ways the human heart is similar to a mechanical pump.
  1. Obtain the following materials:
  • 2 flasks, 250 mL
  • 2 lengths of rubber tubing,(4/16” diameter, 15 cm 25 cm)
  • 1 two-holed stopper that fits a 250 mL flask
  • 2 lengths of glass tubing (7 mm diameter, 20 cm 10 cm length)
  • 1 pinch clamp
  • 1 balloon
  • 1 piece of string, 1 m in length
  • 1 piece of 2-inch wide duct tape (20 cm)
  1. Design build a pump, using only the materials obtained in step 1, which will move 150 mL of water from one flask into the second flask.
  2. When your design is successful, demonstrate it to your teacher for a grade.
  3. Make a sketch of the design in your Laboratory Journal.

Conclusion

  1. What is the source of energy for your pump?
  1. What are two factors that could slow the transfer of water from the reservoir flask to the receiving flask
  1. Predict what would happen to the amount of work performed by the pump if honey was being pumped instead of water. Explain the reasoning behind your prediction.
  1. What medical condition is associated with a narrowing of the vessels surrounding leading to or from the heart?
  1. How might the narrowing of these vesselsaffect the heart?

Project Lead The Way,Inc.

Copyright 2010

PBS – Activity 2.1.1 What Is a Pump – Page 1