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Chemistry Structure and Properties
Nanotechnology, the field of building 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. 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 or for the purpose of space travel, for example - 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 is the volume of one nanocontainer? ( Ignore the thickness of
the nanocontainer's wall.)
b. Suppose that each nanocontainer could contain pure oxygen pressurized to a density of 85 $\mathrm{g} / \mathrm{L}$ How many grams of oxygen could be
contained by each nanocontainer? c. Air typically contains about 0.28 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 is the minimum number of nanocontainers that a person
would need in his bloodstream to provide 1 hours worth of oxygen?
e. What is the minimum volume occupied by the number of nanocontainers calculated in part d? Is such a volume feasible, given that
total blood volume in an adult is about 5 $\mathrm{L} ?$