You have come down with a nasty cold and would like to understand why the virus that infected you is making you feel so lousy. With a few facts given here, you can show that the infected cells are now very full of virus particles, resulting in your current condition. A. Calculate the volume of a eukaryotic cell, in liters (L). B. Calculate the concentration, in Molarity, M, of a single virus within that cell. Note: this is the concentration of any single molecule within a cell. C. Calculate the concentration, in Molarity, M, of 105 (100,000) virus particles —a typical number produced by a viral infection — within that cell. D. If each virus particle is 100 nm in diameter, calculate the “excluded volume” — the space occupied by those 100,000 virus particles. Compare this to the volume of the cell. In other
You have come down with a nasty cold and would like to understand why the virus that
infected you is making you feel so lousy. With a few facts given here, you can show that the
infected cells are now very full of virus particles, resulting in your current condition.
A. Calculate the volume of a eukaryotic cell, in liters (L).
B. Calculate the concentration, in Molarity, M, of a single virus within that cell. Note: this is the
concentration of any single molecule within a cell.
C. Calculate the concentration, in Molarity, M, of 105 (100,000) virus particles —a typical
number produced by a viral infection — within that cell.
D. If each virus particle is 100 nm in diameter, calculate the “excluded volume” — the space
occupied by those 100,000 virus particles. Compare this to the volume of the cell. In other
words, what fraction of the cells total volume is currently being occupied by virus particles?
E. Estimate the average distance between the 105 virus particles in the eukaryotic cell. Hint:
start out with the inverse of the particle number density, N/V
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