Expert: Walter Hintz - 1/29/2007

Question
We saw a sign at the Bodies exhibit that said that each drop of blood in an
adult human goes through the heart every minute. Is this true? How long does it
take for the entire volume of blood in an average adult human to be pumped
through the heart?


Answer
Hi John
It depends a lot upon the heart rate but when we consider an adult at rest the flow rate is about 750 ml of blood per minute going through the heart.  Since the blood volume of an adult is about 5000ml it would take over 6 minutes for a complete circulation. This figure is not really accurate however since a single rbc going to your big toe would travel much farther then one going to your brain or heart muscle and would take longer to complete a cycle. At any rate I do not think this figure of once per minute is very accurate.