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Compared with a plasma membrane, a human red blood cell is roughly:
ATen times wider
BA hundred times wider
CA thousand times wider
DA million times wider
Answer & Solution
Correct answer: C. A thousand times wider
1. Red blood cells are visible under a light microscope but membranes are not.
2. Human red blood cells are approximately 8 micrometres wide.
3. That is approximately 1,000 times wider than a plasma membrane.
4. The gap in scale is why membrane structure had to wait for electron microscopy.
_Source: OpenStax Biology for AP(R) Courses (CC BY 4.0), Ch 5 'Structure and Function of Plasma Membranes', sections 5.1-5.4_
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