Question

According to the chemical reaction, if there are 4.5 mol of oxygenated hemoglobin present in an excess of carbon monoxide, how many moles of hemoglobin would release oxygen and bind to carbon monoxide? Explain your answer.

Answer 1

All 4.5 mol of oxygenated hemoglobin would bind to carbon monoxide in the presence of an excess of carbon monoxide, due to its higher affinity compared to oxygen.

Step-by-step explanation:

When 4.5 mol of oxygenated hemoglobin are exposed to an excess of carbon monoxide, the chemical affinity of hemoglobin for carbon monoxide—which is 200 times stronger than that for oxygen—would lead to a situation where all 4.5 mol of hemoglobin would release oxygen to bind with carbon monoxide. This is due to carbon monoxide's competing effect, which displaces oxygen from hemoglobin to form carboxyhemoglobin. The treatment for carbon monoxide poisoning involves breathing pure oxygen to displace the carbon monoxide, as the presence of high concentrations of oxygen will shift the equilibrium to favor the formation of oxyhemoglobin, allowing oxygen to bind back to the hemoglobin.

Answer 2

This reaction is called carbon monoxide poisoning. Carbon monoxide has a great affinity to hemoglobin relative to oxygen, so it spontaneously combines with hemoglobin. The overall balanced reaction is:


`O_(2)Hb + CO = COHb + O_(2)`

There is a 1:1 molar ratio from oxygenated hemoglobin to each of the products. Thus, there is also 4.5 mol of released oxygen and 4.5 mol of hemoglobin bound to carbon monoxide.