7. (6 pts) Examine the image below, and then answer the following questions. ani

Question

7. (6 pts) Examine the image below, and then answer the following questions. animal cells viruses proteins antibodies small molecules ribosomes genes human hair bacteria chromosomes atoms DNA bases 100 nm m Photo credit: Guillaume Paumier, Philip Ronan, NIH, Artur Jan Fijafkowski, Jerome Walker, Michael David Jones, Tyler Heal, Mariana Ruiz, Science Primer (National Center for Biotechnology Information), Liquid 2003, Arne Nordmann & The Tango! Desktop Project/Wikimedia Commons/CC-BY-SA-2.5. 10 nm 10pm 100 ?m 1mm a. 2 pts) Based on the image, what biological system is most comparable in size to the gold nanoparticles studied in this lab? b. (4 pts) Nanoparticles are a major area of scientific research with particular implications in biological applications. Based on the properties of nanoparticles that you have been studying in the past two labs, why might nanoparticles be useful in studying biological systems? Explain your reasoning, and cite specific properties and behaviors of nanoparticles that you have observed in lab that support your ideas.

Explanation / Answer

a. gold nanoparticles size ranges from 5-400 nanometer. This size range can be compared to that of viruses and ribosomes,because viruses are of 400 nanometer size in average and prokaryotic ribosomes are of 20 nanometer where Eukaryotic ribosomes are of 25-30 nanometer size.

b. Nanoparticles are useful in studying biological systems as they can interact with biomolecules like proteins.If we expose nanoparticles to biomaterials,they stick to it,the average particle size increases. So if we use increasing amount of proteins,we can monitor the size increase in nanoparticles.So by this property,we can determine type of interactions in biological systems. Nanoparticles can be used for drug delivery,biodetection of pathogens,protein detection,tissue engineering,separation and purification of biological molecules.

Some of the properties and behaviours of nanoparticles include-

i) surface of nanoparticles can be functionalised with range of metal ions,small molecules or polymers.

ii) they have a outside shell layer and a core layer.

iii) Nanoparticles have mobility,which is controlled by some factors like buoyancy,gravitational forces etc.

iv) they have surface energy and have the property of colloid stabilisation

v) Optical properties.

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