Yahoo Answers is shutting down on May 4th, 2021 (Eastern Time) and beginning April 20th, 2021 (Eastern Time) the Yahoo Answers website will be in read-only mode. There will be no changes to other Yahoo properties or services, or your Yahoo account. You can find more information about the Yahoo Answers shutdown and how to download your data on this help page.

Why does a child`s heart beat faster than an adult`s?

And come to think about it.....why do small creatures (mice. birds etc) have a much faster heart rate than large creatures?

My little daughter and I were listening to our hearts with a stethescope...and at 4 her heart beat is a lot faster than mine. We already talked about how exercise increases your heart rate.

However I had no good answer to the "why" when she wanted to know why our heart rates were so different.

2 Answers

Relevance
  • 1 decade ago
    Favorite Answer

    One of the functions of our circulation is temperature regulation. The relative amount of skin to the weight of an animal varies with the animal's size as follows: Using a sphere as an idealized creature, and using volume as an expression of mass, if you double the diameter you square the surface area but cube the volume (mass). That larger mass generates more heat relative to the surface area, so less blood flow to the skin is needed to dissipate the heat. When a baby loses a lot of heat through its skin, it has a hard time making enough heat to stay warm - it doesn't have enough mass. When an obese adult does a bit of physical work it needs to increase its heart rate and its sweating to stay even, heat-wise. These difference can be seen at rest and at a comfortable temperature as differences is baseline heart rate. More vividly, compare mouse to an elephant.

  • 4 years ago

    that perfect boy I see usual who i might desire to communicate to yet have not in like 3 weeks because of the fact i'm fuuucking stupid and a coward and he's often together with his stupid cocky pals and that i do no longer want to embaress him infront of their asssholeyness :D

Still have questions? Get your answers by asking now.