Nanotechnology, the field of building microscale structures one atom at a time,

Question

Nanotechnology, the field of building microscale 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 could 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, these containers could slowly release oxygen into the blood, allowing tissues that would otherwise die to remain alive. Suppose that nanocontainers were cubic and had an edge length of 25 nanometers. a. What is the volume (in L) of one nanocontainer? b. Suppose that each nanocontainer could contain pure oxygen pressurized to a density of 85 g/L. How many grams of oxygen could be contained by each nonocontainer? 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? d. What is the minimum number of nanocontainers that a person would need in their bloodstream to provide 1.0 hour's worth of oxygen?

Explanation / Answer

a )

Volume of a cube is Lengh cubed or L X L x L
Convert to metres first L = 25 nm or 25 x 10^-9 Metres
Now L x L x L =
25 x 10^-9 x 25 x 10^-9 x 25 x 10^-9 = 15625 x 10^-27 Cu metres
1 cubic metre has 1000 litres so divide Cu Metres by 1000

15625 /1000 x 10^ - 27 = 15.62 x 10^ -27 litres
15.62 x 10^ -27 litres now convert to 2 most sig figs
1.56x 10^-26 litres

b)here

density - 85g/L .

(85 g)/(0.001 m^3) * (1.56 x 10^(-26) m^3)
= 1.33 x 10^(-19) gram

c)

20 breaths/min = 10 L/min;
in an hour, you get 600 L.
(600 L)/hr * (0.28 g)/L = 170 g/hr

d) (168 g)/(1.17 x 10^(-18) g) = 1.4 * 10^20

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