Problem
If 1500 white blood cells are lined up side by side, they would form a row 1.0 inch long. What is the average diameter of a single white blood cell?
(1 inch = 2.54cm)
Set up a proportion.
1500/2.54 = 1/x
x is the length of 1 white blood cell. Seems like a large number to me. 1.7 mm seems too big but then I don't know much about white blood cells.
I missed my estimate by a factor of 10. That's about 0.0017 cm or 0.017 mm or 17 um if I didn't goof.
To solve this problem, we can set up a proportion using the given information.
First, let's convert the length of the row of white blood cells from inches to centimeters. We know that 1 inch is equal to 2.54 cm, so the length of the row is 1.0 inch * 2.54 cm/inch = 2.54 cm.
Now, let's set up the proportion using the number of white blood cells and the length of the row. We'll let 'x' represent the average diameter of a single white blood cell.
1500 white blood cells / 2.54 cm = 1 white blood cell / x cm
To solve for 'x', we can cross multiply:
1500 * x = 1 * 2.54
1500x = 2.54
Now we can divide both sides by 1500 to solve for 'x':
x = 2.54 / 1500
x ≈ 0.0017 cm
So, the average diameter of a single white blood cell is approximately 0.0017 cm or 0.017 mm or 17 μm.