A swimming sperm cell is about long

PHYSICS · Subjective · Fermi University Physics · Fluids & Continuum Physics · Biophysics & Medical Physics · Physical foundations of the living cell

Life at Thermal Energy, Ch Random walks, diffusion and the crowded cell

Problem

A swimming sperm cell is about 50 μm50\,\mathrm{\mu m} long, head to tail tip, and swims at a speed of 100 μm s−1100\,\mathrm{\mu m\,s^{-1}} through a watery fluid with density ρ=1000 kg m−3\rho = 1000\,\mathrm{kg\,m^{-3}} and viscosity η=1.0×10−3 Pa s\eta = 1.0\times10^{-3}\,\mathrm{Pa\,s}. Calculate the Reynolds number for this swimmer, using its length as the relevant size LL.

Browse the problem library