Saturday, April 3, 2010

Collapsing pulse

The collapsing pulse is also referred to as Corrigans or a water-hammer pulse, after a 19th century toy that was a vacuum tube containing water or mercury that was flipped creating a tapping or hammer sensation at the finger tips (a most arcane term – perhaps the Game-Boy rumble would be more recognizable today).. This accentuates the tapping quality of the pulse.

Now check what wiki says about the actual water hammer-Water hammer (or, more generally, fluid hammer) is a pressure surge or wave resulting when a fluid (usually a liquid but sometimes also a gas) in motion is forced to stop or change direction suddenly (momentum change). Water hammer commonly occurs when a valve is closed suddenly at an end of a pipeline system, and a pressure wave propagates in the pipe.

"Watson's water hammer pulse" and "Corrigan's pulse" refer to similar observations. However, the former usually refers to measurement of a pulse on a limb, while the latter refers to measurement of the pulse of the carotid artery

  • "Corrigan's pulse" is named for Sir Dominic Corrigan, the Irish physisian, who characterized it in 1832.[2][3]
  • "Watson's water hammer pulse" is named for Thomas Watson, who characterized it in 1844.[1]


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