Transcript Heart Rate

Warm-Up
Nov. 3
Truth or “Urban Legend”
• The heartbeat hypothesis postulates that every living
creature has a limited number of heartbeats or
breaths. The hypothesis is based on two observations.
First, that small mammals (such as a mouse) have rapid
resting heart rate compared to a larger mammal (such
as an elephant), and that their respective lifespans are
inversely proportional to those rates. Second, is that
athletically fit people tend to have a lower resting
heart rate and tend to live longer than unhealthy
people. Essentially, there is a claim that there is a
formula reflecting this relationship indicating that a
species has a life span of approximately one billion
heartbeats.
While Considering the Clip
• “Did you know”, Matilda said suddenly, “that the
heart of a mouse beats at the rate of six hundred
and fifty times a second?”
• I did not,” Miss Honey said smiling. “How
absolutely fascinating. Where did you read that?”
• “In a book from the library,” Matilda said. “And
that means it goes so fast that you can’t even
hear the separate beats. It must sound like a
buzz.”
• “It must,” Miss Honey said.
“Does every species get
around a billion heartbeats on average?”
• Google the above question.
• http://skeptics.stackexchange.com/questions/57
01/does-every-species-get-around-a-billionheartbeats-on-average
• http://kottke.org/13/02/does-every-species-geta-billion-heartbeats-per-lifetime
• http://www.itsokaytobesmart.com/post/426192
63293/does-every-species-get-around-a-billionheartbeats
• http://www.beholders.org/mind/scienceandfacts
/124-1billionheartbeats.html
• Can a relationship be found between the
heart rate and life span of various species?
• Can the weight (or surface area or volume) of
the species be used in a relationship with
another variable to support the 1 billion
heartbeat life span claim?
If You Hopped Like a Frog.
• Using proportions we will figure out what you
could do if you had the abilities of each of the
creatures in the book.
• You will create a poster that either supports,
or refutes the claims presented.
• You may research on the internet if you would
like more info than what is presented.