Our task is to measure the volume of blood in an elephant. One way to do this would be to drain its blood into a suitable container. Aside from harmful side effects which this method has on the elephant, it will not be successful, as blood will still remain behind in the tissues. Hence, we will inject 2.00 ml of a 2.00 M solution of a dye which the elephant will not appreciably metabolize or excrete in one hour and then measure the concentration of this dye in the bloodstream (our sample being taken from another leg than the point of injection) after 30 minutes, a sufficient time to thoroughly mix the dye in the bloodstream. The concentration of dye at this point is 1.25 x 10^-5 M. What is the volume of blood in the elephant?

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The volume of blood in the elephant can be calculated using the formula:Volume of blood = (Volume of dye injected * Concentration of dye injected) / Concentration of dye in bloodstreamVolume of dye injected = 2.00 mlConcentration of dye injected = 2.00 MConcentration of dye in bloodstream = 1.25 x 10^-5 MVolume of blood = (2.00 ml * 2.00 M) / 1.25 x 10^-5 M = 320 LTherefore, the volume of blood in the elephant is 320 L.

Our Task Is to Measure the Volume of Blood in an Elephant