Nanotechnology, the field of trying to build ultrasmall structures one atom at a time, has progressed in recent years. One potential application of nanotechnology is the construction of artificial cells. The simplest cells would probably mimic red blood cells, the body's oxygen transporters. For example, nanocontainers, perhaps constructed of carbon, could be pumped full of oxygen and injected into a person's bloodstream. If the person needed additional oxygen-due to a heart attack perhaps, or ror the purpose of space travel-these containers could slowly release oxygen into the blood, allowing tissues that would otherwise die to remain alive. Suppose that the nanocontainers were cubic and had an edge length of 25 nanometers. (a) What's the volume of one nanocontainer? (Ignore the thickness of the nanocontainer's wall) (In liters) (b) Suppose that each nanocontainers could contain pure oxygen pressurized to a density of 85 g/L. How many grams of oxygen could be contained by each nanocontainer? (c)Normal air contains about 0.28 g of oxygen per liter. An average human inhales about 0.50 L of air per breath and takes about 20 breaths per minute. How many grams of oxygen does a human inhale per hour? (assume two significant figures) (d) What's the minimum number of nanocontainers that a person would need in their bloodstream to provide 1 hour's worth of oxygen?
Nanotechnology, the field of trying to build ultrasmall structures one atom at a time, has progressed in recent years. One potential application of nanotechnology is the construction of artificial cells. The simplest cells would probably mimic red blood cells, the body's oxygen transporters. For example, nanocontainers, perhaps constructed of carbon, could be pumped full of oxygen and injected into a person's bloodstream. If the person needed additional oxygen-due to a heart attack perhaps, or ror the purpose of space travel-these containers could slowly release oxygen into the blood, allowing tissues that would otherwise die to remain alive. Suppose that the nanocontainers were cubic and had an edge length of 25 nanometers.
(a) What's the volume of one nanocontainer? (Ignore the thickness of the nanocontainer's wall) (In liters)
(b) Suppose that each nanocontainers could contain pure oxygen pressurized to a density of 85 g/L. How many grams of oxygen could be contained by each nanocontainer?
(c)Normal air contains about 0.28 g of oxygen per liter. An average human inhales about 0.50 L of air per breath and takes about 20 breaths per minute. How many grams of oxygen does a human inhale per hour? (assume two significant figures)
(d) What's the minimum number of nanocontainers that a person would need in their bloodstream to provide 1 hour's worth of oxygen?
Trending now
This is a popular solution!
Step by step
Solved in 3 steps with 3 images
