Final answer:
To calculate the number of hemoglobin molecules in 5.0 L of blood, multiply the number of erythrocytes per milliliter by the volume in milliliters and then by the number of hemoglobin molecules per erythrocyte. The result is 7.0 x 10^21 hemoglobin molecules.
Step-by-step explanation:
To calculate the total number of hemoglobin molecules in 5.0 L of blood, we need to know two pieces of information: the number of red blood cells (erythrocytes) per milliliter of blood and the number of hemoglobin molecules per erythrocyte.
Firstly, we have the data that there are approximately 5.0 x 109 erythrocytes per milliliter of blood. Now, since there are 1,000 milliliters (mL) in 1 liter (L), we can determine the total number of erythrocytes in 5.0 L of blood:
5.0 x 109 erythrocytes/mL x 5,000 mL = 2.5 x 1013 erythrocytes
Secondly, each erythrocyte has about 2.8 x 108 hemoglobin molecules. Thus, to find the total number of hemoglobin molecules in 5.0 L of blood we multiply the total number of erythrocytes by the number of hemoglobin molecules per erythrocyte:
2.5 x 1013 erythrocytes x 2.8 x 108 hemoglobin molecules/erythrocyte = 7.0 x 1021 hemoglobin molecules.
Therefore, there are 7.0 x 1021 hemoglobin molecules in 5.0 L of blood.