A single beat of the heart moves blood throughout your body. This is accomplished by sending a wave of contractions from the top to bottom chambers, pushing blood out and then back in again. The distance that the wave goes is approximately 1 cm per heartbeat!
This is accomplished by sending a wave of contractions from the top to bottom chambers, pushing blood out and then back in again. The distance that the wave goes is approximately 0.01 cm per heartbeat!
Extra Tip
To help visualize this better, think about how far you could see if someone was standing at your feet and looking up – that’s going to be around 0.30 meters or nearly one foot! Compare this with the average person who has an arm length of 60 centimeters (or just over two feet).
In order for them to reach all the way across their own body they would need to stretch 180 degrees, which corresponds roughly with a full circle measuring almost three-quarters.
