h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: Stethoscopes - A695207
Author: Josh the Humble Genius - U185839

http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/classic/A695207

The stethoscope was invented in a more humourous way than you might imagine.

Nice entry, I like it. Short, simple and informative.



No mistakes I spotted either. Nice work

Orcus

I agree.

There was one type, though -= 'synounymous' should be 'synonymous'.

Good stuff!

I like this entry. It's short and to the point, but seems to give enough detail. I don't think there is much that could be improved. I have one comment though, you say that the combination 'bell-diaphragm' contact piece is useful to detect mediocre pitched sounds. I think that 'medium' would be a better word than mediocre here.

I have one more typo to report: 'synounymous', right at the start of the Entry, should read 'synonymous'.

But that nitpick aside, great work! You're right, it is hard to picture a doctor without a stethoscope! After all, we don't do so on h2g2...

(es at the realisation that he's reported the same typo as Zarquon's Singing Fish, resolves to read threads more carefully before posting, and attempts to redeem himself):

Er... I've spotted another typo in the last sentence. 'consise' should be 'concise'. It's still a great Entry, though!

Well I didnt spot that one! Same goes for me!

Very nice, Josh!

Did you know that mechanics often use a variant of the stethoscope to help detect and analyse noises made by machinery? This form of the device has a long metal probe, which the user places in contact with a portion of the machine's 'anatomy.'

Wow, you really like it, eh? I'm not sure what prompted me to write about stethoscopes, but once I researched them, I discovered they were a lot of fun. Thanks to all.

Taliesin-
Yes, I've seen one of those before, although I had never thought of it as a relative of the stethoscope. Interesting

Josh

There's a BBC Radio 4 programme about stethoscopes at 11.30am, UK time, this Friday (I think).

I sure wish I could listen to BBC radio out here.

There's one other thing I'm wondering about. I don't think this article needs a picture with it, but just for future reference, where can I find pictures, and how do I include a them.

Go to http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/C809 - Pictures.

The blobs in the pictures (above) are the only ones you can use in h2g2. If there isn't one to fit your entry, you will have to wait until your entry is picked as the editor's choice - which is a bit of a longshot!

Firstly, the bbc do a live webcast, so you might be able to listen to the program that way. The website it at http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/, at to listen, click where it says listen live. The program is at 11am (not 11.30), here is a link about it http://www.bbc.co.uk/cgi-perl/whatson/prog_parse.cgi?FILENAME=20020222/20020222_1100_49700_48761_30) on Friday.

Also, if you want to include pictures in your entries, you need to use the tag in GuideML. There is a page here that covers how it is used: 'http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/alabaster/GuideML-PICTURE'

The pictures you can insert come from the page that Zarquon's has just linked to.

Ummm, sorry to burst all your bubbles but any pictures you put in will get removed upon sub-editing.
If you're lucky the site artist will do you a new one upon main editing.

There is little point in putting one of the blobs already done in the article unless you want it to be on view in the unofficial version forever of course.

Oh well. It's not that important, I suppose. Thanks for your help.

i love the entry, it has my vote!

Excellent entry!

"consise" should be "concise".

Hiya!

Nice entry - I'll never look at my steth in the same way again

Just one problem; the description of the lub-dub heart sounds are wrong... they are caused by the sounds of valves closing rather than the sound of the rushing blood.

'Lub' is the sound of the mitral valve (named thus because because the two leaflets look like a bishop's mitre) and the sound of the tricuspid valve closing (ie after blood has left the left and right atria respectively).

'Dub' is the sound of of the aortic and pulmonary valves closing (ie after blood has left the heart to go around the body and to the lungs respectively).


Stay ,
WD

That's odd. I got my "lub-dup" definitions from a pretty respectable medical web site. So it's not the blood itself, but the valves that move the blood that make the noise?

Yep. It's definitely the valves snapping shut which make the noise, not the flowing blood itself. The only time in which the blood makes a noise is in the heart murmurs or bruits, and that's when the valves don't shut properly or there is a lot of turbulence due to artery narrowing respectively. I double-checked with my Oxford Handbook of Clinical Medicine just to make sure I wasn't imagining things, and it concurs about the valves.

Actually, you could mention bruits alongside murmurs... there is always that classic med school exam question - 'What's the difference between a murmur and a bruit?'

The answer, of course, being 'Location'