Cardiac output is a measure of the efficiency of the heart. It is the volume of blood pumped by the heart in one minute. If you know the amount of blood pumped in every beat and you know the heart rate you can calculate the cardiac output:
Change the values for stroke volume and heart
rate and hit the calculate button to see what the cardiac output
would be under those conditions.
Resting heart rate is approximately 70 beats per minute, and the average stroke volume is approximately 60 milliliters, but these figures can change dramatically depending on the level of exertion. During exercise the heart rate may increase to as much as 200 beats per minute and the stroke volume may increase to more than twice the resting size. On the other hand, during deep sleep the heart beat drops to as low as 45 beats per minute and stroke volume can decrease to 45 milliliters.
