MadSci Network: Medicine |
Kishan, That's really a deceptively simple question, which doesn't have a particularly simple answer. Assuming that by "drop" you mean either a freely-falling globule or a bit of blood welling up on the surface of the skin, the volume will vary depending on the properties of the blood itself. The viscosity, density, and surface tension of the fluid drop all affect its natural volume: these properties are related to hematocrit (the number of blood cells and particles in the drop), hydration levels, fluid temperature, and surface the drop forms upon. A discussion of fluid drop measurement techniques may be found at http://wso.williams.ed u/~gsiarny/dropdet.html When medical personnel pull "a drop" of blood for testing, they will usually use a pipette to draw up a pre-determined amount of blood so that tests can be performed uniformly. This is much more reliable than using a naturally formed drop. For less-critical estimation, there is an obscure measure called a drop, with a volume of approximately 1/30 ml. I've never actually heard of anyone actually using it, however. I hope this is helpful!
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