Final answer:
The estimated surface area of the phospholipids from the dissolved plasma membranes of 1000 red blood cells would be approximately 16 cm2, given that these phospholipids would have previously formed a bilayer around each cell, thus doubling the original combined surface area of 8 cm2.
Step-by-step explanation:
The subject of this question involves predicting the surface area of phospholipids after dissolving the plasma membrane of red blood cells. Gorter and Grendel conducted experiments which led them to theorize that the plasma membrane was a phospholipid bilayer, suggesting that each red blood cell is essentially wrapped twice by phospholipid molecules. This understanding is based on the amphipathic nature of phospholipids, which have both hydrophilic and hydrophobic regions.
If we assume that the total surface area of the red blood cells was 8 cm2 and that the phospholipids wrap around each cell twice, we would predict that the total surface area of the phospholipids laid out would be approximately double, which is 16 cm2. This is because, if we were to lay out the phospholipids in a single layer at the benzene/water interface, each molecule would be represented once, effectively doubling the area that they covered when composed as a bilayer around the cells.