Question

Sort the following molecules from a low to high rate of diffusion inside the cytosol. Your answer would be a four-letter string composed of letters A to D only, e.g. ADCB.

1) Myoglobin (a protein)
2) Glycine (an amino acid)
3) Ribosome (a protein-RNA complex)
4) CO₂

Answer 1

The molecules are sorted by size and polarity affecting their diffusion rates, with Ribosome having the slowest and CO₂ the fastest diffusion rate, resulting in the order 'CADB'.

Step-by-step explanation:

To sort the molecules from low to high rate of diffusion inside the cytosol, we need to consider the size and nature of the molecules. Smaller, nonpolar molecules diffuse faster compared to larger, complex structures. Given the four items: Myoglobin (a protein), Glycine (an amino acid), Ribosome (a protein-RNA complex), and CO₂ (a gas), we can infer that CO₂, being a small and nonpolar molecule, will have the highest diffusion rate. Glycine, being smaller than myoglobin but larger than CO₂, will have a moderate diffusion rate. Myoglobin, being a protein, is larger than glycine and will have a slower diffusion rate. Finally, ribosomes, being large protein-RNA complexes, will have the slowest diffusion rate within the cytosol.

Therefore, the correct order from low to high rate of diffusion is Ribosome (C), Myoglobin (A), Glycine (B), CO₂ (D), which results in the four-letter string 'CADB'.