Blood: Bulk flow vs Hydrostatic pressure

[emminent]

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Does blood move through the body via bulk flow or hydrostatic pressure?

 

[Project Pat]

bulk flow

even without knowing much about the process hydrostatic should be eliminated by breaking down the root words:
hydro - generally refers to water
static - stationary, not moving

 

[emminent]

sounds good but what drives bulk flow then?

 

[Project Pat]

Think of it like water in a hose, all the water is moving in one direction. The water in the back can't move until the water in front exits the hose.

 

[syeh3]

Bulk flow 🙂

 

[syeh3]

I correlate blood as thick liquid lol

 

[AlvaDentistry]

The bulk flow is just the movement of a fluid (in this case the blood components) due to pressure, it is how blood travels from a high pressure area to low pressure area. During this movement the smallest particles can leave the capillary. Here is where you get confused with Hydrostatic Pressure, because Hydrostatic Pressure is the pressure that pushes the smallest components of the fluid out of the capillaries into the interstitial fluid.