A study from the National Institutes of Health states that the human body contains trillions of microorganisms that make up 1% to 3% of the body's mass. Use this information to estimate the average mass of a microorganism.

Question

Biology

Hamlet

13 September, 12:57

A study from the National Institutes of Health states that the human body contains trillions of microorganisms that make up 1% to 3% of the body's mass. Use this information to estimate the average mass of a microorganism.

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Answers (1)

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Allen Henderson · Answer 1

If the mass of the human body is 60 kg so the average mass of microorganism is 1.2 kg.

Explanation:

If we suppose the mass of human body is 60 kg and we know the percentage that is 1 to 3% so we will take the average microorganism mass of which is 2%. So by doing multiplication of 60 with 2 and then divided by 100, we get 1.2 kg. The reason for dividing by 100 is that the average mass present in percentage form so for converting the percentage into standard form we have to divide it by 100. So we conclude that in every human with a mass of 60 kg have 1.2 kg microbes present in their body.