Answer to Question #54631 in General Chemistry for Jessica1

Question

The LD50 for a drug is the dose that would be lethal for 50% of the population.LD50 for aspirin in rats is 1.63 grams per kilogram of body weight. calculate the number tablets containing 325 mg of aspirin a 62.1 kg human would have to consume to achieve this dose.

Answer 1

According to the objective, we suppose that LD50 in rats would be equivalent to LD50 in humans.
(There is a reason to suppose that LD50 in rats would be different from LD50 in human, due to distinction in metabolism. In this virtual experiment we would ignore the differences and presume that LD50 [R] = LD50 [H].)
Data:
LD50 (Rats) = LD50 (Humans) = 1.63 g/kg;
1 tablet contain 0.325 g of aspirin. m(Human) = 62.1 kg;
m(t) = 0.325 g;
m(H) = 62.1 kg;
N - ?
N = m(H)*LD50/m(t);
N = 62.1*1.63/0.325;
N = 311.46 = 312

Answer: 312 tablets