Other Fluid Principles - MCAT Chemical and Physical Foundations of Biological Systems

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Question

The law of Laplace states what relationship between that the tension in the wall of a bubble and the radius of the bubble?

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Answer

The law of Laplace states that wall tension in a bubble, balloon, pulmonary alveolus, or blood vessel is directly proportional to the radius and the internal pressure.

Law of Laplace:

In other words, as the size of the bubble increases at constant pressure or as the pressure increases at constant size, the wall tension needed to keep the bubble from increasing in size is increased. In part, this explains why aneurysms on blood vessels burst.

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