In medical contexts, blood pressure is often given simply as numbers without units.
(a) In taking blood pressure, what physical quantity is actually being measured?
(b) What are the units in which blood pressure is typically reported?
(c) Is the reported blood pressure an absolute pressure or a gauge pressure?
(d) Suppose an ambitious zookeeper measures the blood pressure of a standing adult male giraffe (18 feet tall) in its front leg, just above the hoof, and in its neck, just below the jaw. By about how much are the two readings expected to differ?
(e) What happens to the blood pressure in a giraffe’s neck when it stoops to drink?
(f) What adaptations do giraffes have that allow them to accommodate pressure differences related to their height?