Calculating the size of red blood cells?

Question

If the magnification is x1000 and my formula is:

magnification = apparent size of cell / actual size of cell

How would I work this out?

Having a brain dead day!

Answer 1

magnification = apparent size/actual size

so actual size = apparent size/magnification.

so if it appears to be 8mm under your microscope,
actual size = (8/1000) mm
= 8 micrometres or microns.

Answer 2

There's a name for this disease, but I don't remember what it is-- there's a bone marrow disorder where the precursor cells just keep on churning out far more red cells than are needed. Your blood turns to sludge and can't flow through your blood vessels very well or at all (normal blood is less than half red blood cells, and more than half plasma (fluid)). The red blood cells are suspended in the plasma, and when there are too many of them the blood gets too thick. It can be managed by draining large amts of blood, centrifuging it and returning just the plasma to the body, but it is fatal eventually. Imagine taking a glass of iced tea and stirring in so much sugar that it is too thick to suck through a straw. That's pretty much what happens.

Answer 3

you first need to measure the red blood cell with the ocular micrometer, this is the apparent size. Then you divide by 1000 to get the actual size. should be around 8 microns in diameter for RBC