Ant Man

[Nod2003]

If a person could be shrunk a-la Ant Man, how small could they get before their lungs and/or blood would be incompatible with the air?  I would have to assume that their red blood cells shrank at a similar ratio and could get small enough to not hold oxygen properly?

[dimreepr]

bacteria I assume, to be alive

Edited January 28, 2019 by dimreepr

[Nod2003]

Do bacteria have a human style respiratory system, or do they exchange oxygen by a different means?  Or do they even use oxygen?  I think some do, but not all.

[dimreepr]

2 minutes ago, Nod2003 said:

Do bacteria have a human style respiratory system

nope, the question should be how small do mammals get?

[Nod2003]

4 minutes ago, dimreepr said:

nope, the question should be how small do mammals get?

Not really...

That would be assuming that the thing preventing mammals from getting any smaller is the blood oxygenation issue, when it could be one of a thousand different variables.  

A better question might be, how much smaller can human red blood cells get before they would fail to oxygenate sufficiently to work.

of course, shrinking the blood might also cause flow problems due to viscosity changes or something as well.

[dimreepr]

1 minute ago, Nod2003 said:

Not really...

That would be assuming that the thing preventing mammals from getting any smaller is the blood oxygenation issue, when it could be one of a thousand different variables.  

A better question might be, how much smaller can human red blood cells get before they would fail to oxygenate sufficiently to work.

of course, shrinking the blood might also cause flow problems due to viscosity changes or something as well.

 

22 minutes ago, Nod2003 said:

Do bacteria have a human style respiratory system,

insects breathe but not like us