Journal of Physics Special Topics

P5_2 The Draining of a Lifetime

M. Sadhra, H. Samaratunga, H. S. Ahmed and L. Tonks.
Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Leicester, Leicester, LE1 7RH.
October 28, 2015
Abstract
Throughout human history there have been tales of blood drinking vampires. Using fluid dynamics
we found that it would take only 6.4 minutes for a vampire to drain 15% of the blood from the
external carotid artery in the humans neck.

Introduction
Vampires are mythical creatures who feed on the blood of humans, however only a certain
percentage of blood can be taken without affecting the circulatory system of the human. Any more
than 15% blood loss and the heart rate starts to change [1]. Increasing and allowing more blood to be
lost through the puncture holes in the external carotid artery (where the vampire drinks). As a result,
our goal is to find the time it would take for a vampire to drink 15% of a humans blood and to be able
to make a swift get away and minimalize the effects on the circulatory system.
The following general assumptions were made to solve our problem and these are, firstly that
gravity is negligible. Secondly that the aorta and carotid arteries will be modelled as smooth tubes and
lastly that the pressure from the vampires suck will be neglected, and assumed to be air pressure (1
atm). This is because the vampire will not be sucking the blood out of the human, rather just drinking
it as it flows out of the external carotid artery in the humans neck.
Discussion
The aorta splits into 5 other arteries, however, we are
concerned with the velocity of blood flowing into only the
common carotid artery. We assume that the 5 arteries are of
even thickness, this enables us to calculate the velocity of blood
flowing into the common carotid artery using the continuity
equation, equation 1. Before we do this some assumptions must
be made about how the aorta and arteries will be modelled and
the initial velocity of the blood entering from the aorta. Firstly the
diameter of the aorta is found to be approximately 4cm [2] and
we assumed that each of the 5 arteries have a diameter of 0.5cm
[3] which is the known carotid artery diameter. Since each of the
diameters for the arteries are the same, the areas and volumes Figure 1 - diagram defecting the blood
will also be the same. Secondly the velocity of the blood coming flow out of the aorta as is modelled in
out from the aorta, vi, has a mean speed of 0.1ms-1[4], this this paper
velocity is due to the heart pumping. By using these assumptions
we can simplify equation 1 to give us equation 2, assuming even
flow.
Ai vi = A1 v1 + A2 v2 + A3 v3 + A4 v4 + A5 v5
(1)
Ai vi = 5Avf
(2)
From equation 2, we find that the velocity of the blood flowing into the common carotid artery, vf is
1.1ms-1.

The Draining of a Lifetime, October 28, 2015.

Next the common carotid artery splits into the internal carotid
artery and the external carotid artery as shown in figure 2b. The
internal and external carotid arteries both approximately have
the same diameter of 0.5cm and therefore we can model it as
seen below.
Consequently, we can half the velocity of the blood flowing
in because the blood will separate equally between the two
arteries and so the velocity flowing through the external carotid
artery, vext is 0.6ms-1. The average human blood pressure in the
arteries is 100 mmHg [5] this is measured relative to the air
pressure, therefore the pressure difference (P) is 13.3kPa. The
average density of whole blood is 1060 kgm-3 [6] at room
temperature. Using this information and the Bernoulli equation,
equation 3, we calculated the velocity of the blood coming out
of the puncture in the humans neck, vout, to be 5 ms-1.
1

P + 2 vext 2 =

1
vout 2
2

2a

2b

(3)

The vampires fangs we assumed to leave puncture holes with

a width of 0.5mm each and therefore their combined cross Figure 2a - shows the positioning of the
sectional area (Afangs) for both holes is 3.9x10-7m2. Using the external carotid artery [7]
continuity equation again,
Q = vout Afangs

(4)

the volumetric flow rate, Q, is calculated as 1.97x10-6 m3s-1.

Q=

V
t

Figure 2b - shows the splitting of the

common carotid artery into the internal
and external artery

(5)

The human body has an average of 5 litres of blood, we assumed that the vampire would only take
in 15% of this total volume. The term for volume, V, in equation 5 is therefore 7.5x10-4m3, hence the
time taken, t, is calculated to be 6.4 minutes.
Conclusion
In this investigation we found that it takes 6.4 minutes to drain 0.75 litres of blood from the human
body, this seems fairly reasonable considering it takes less than an hour to give 0.47 litres of blood
when you donate from a vein [8]. However this blood is coming from your arm and the blood pressure
is lower here whereas ours is coming from the external carotid artery. To take it one step further we
could take into account more than 15% of the blood being lost from the body and also the pressure if
the vampire was sucking as well as drinking. This would reduce the time taken and make the process
more efficient.
References
[1] http://www.medicaldaily.com/breaking-point-how-much-blood-can-human-body-lose-350792
accessed on 11/10/2015.
[2] http://www.parkhurstexchange.com/columns/jul08-p11 accessed on 11/10/2015.
[3] http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17203830 accessed on 11/10/2015.
[4] I. T. Gabe et al, Circulation, 40, 5 (1969).
[5] http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/high-blood-pressure/in-depth/bloodpressure/art-20050982 accessed on 11/10/2015.
[6] J. Cutnell, K. Johnson, Physics, Fourth Edition (Wiley, 1998), p.308.
[7] http://www.mayfieldclinic.com/PE-CarotidStenosis.htm#.VhvVZ_lViko accessed on 10/10/2015.
[8] http://www.blood.co.uk/giving-blood/faqs/ accessed on 9/10/2015.