- What fraction of an E coli cell is occupied by its DNA?
How would I find the fraction?
If I knew the volume of an E coli cell, would I divide that by the volume of DNA in an E coli cell?
- A human cell is typically spherical with a diameter of 20 micrometers. Calculate the volume of a human cell in cm ^3.
I don't understand how you can calculate the volume without the length of the human cell. I tried looking it up, but I get varied answers since cells vary in size.
Yes to your first question. fraction = volume DNA/volume E coli cell.
To your second question, why do you need a length. Spheres don't have a length, do they? The volume of a sphere is (4/3)*pi*r^3
To find the fraction of an E. coli cell occupied by its DNA, you would divide the volume of the DNA by the total volume of the cell.
To calculate the volume of a human cell, such as a spherical cell, you would need to know the diameter. However, you mentioned that the diameter is 20 micrometers.
To calculate the volume of a spherical cell, you can use the formula for the volume of a sphere:
V = (4/3) * π * r^3
Here, r represents the radius of the cell, which is half the diameter. So, if the diameter is 20 micrometers, the radius would be 10 micrometers (or 0.01 millimeters).
Converting the radius to centimeters:
0.01 millimeters * (1 centimeter / 10 millimeters) = 0.001 centimeters
Now, you can substitute the value of the radius into the formula:
V = (4/3) * π * (0.001 cm)^3
V ≈ 4.19 * 10^-9 cm^3
Therefore, the volume of a human cell with a diameter of 20 micrometers is approximately 4.19 * 10^-9 cm^3.