#671 – Deflate
Posted on July 30, 2013 at 10:37 am by Chris
Chapter: Comic
I wonder how many mosquitoes it would take to empty an adult human of blood.
Tags: blood, more blood, mosquitoesI wonder how many mosquitoes it would take to empty an adult human of blood.
Tags: blood, more blood, mosquitoes
About 1,120,000. 🙂 http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_many_mosquito_bites_does_it_take_to_drain_all_the_blood_from_an_adult
Ask xkcd what if, I’m sure he’ll come up with an answer to that one haha (http://what-if.xkcd.com/)
One. If it’s big enough.
Or, if you’re small enough.
I think wikianswers may be off. According to the AMCA (American Mosquito Control Association), a mosquito takes between 0.001 mL and 0.01 mL. Though the volume of an adult human’s blood varies greatly due to many variables, it’s generally agreed to be between 4-6 liters. If we assume the averages of both those ranges, we get a mosquito satiation volume of 0.0055 mL, contrasted with a human volume of 5,000 mL. Human volume divided by the mosquito’s meal = 5,000 mL ÷ 0.0055 mL = 909,091 mosquitos, rounded to the nearest whole mosquito.
Of course, if you were a big, burly male with 6 liters of blood and attacked by tiny-stomached 0.001 mL mosquitos, it’d take a whopping 6 million. Whereas a tiny 4-liter woman attacked by the insatiable 0.01 mL mosquitos would be drained by less than a half million. A rather interesting degree of variation there. Probably only to me, though.
Mr. Owl, how many mosquito bites does it take to get to the blood & guts center of a human guy?
Let’s find out…
One would suffice. If your blood lacks the ability of coagulation.
(This was actually my first thought when I saw the comic.)
Tell you what – if you’re up for it, I’ll bring over my swarm of mosquitos and we can find out.