Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
41
where Mb is the deoxy-myoglobin, MbO
2
the oxy-myoglobin, and K the
equilibrium constant. In a standard experiment, at various oxygen pressures,
the relative amounts of oxy-myoglobin are measured in terms of a non-
dimensional quantity, percentage saturation. It is usually represented as:
Since the equilibrium constant K can be expressed as:
We can simplify percentage saturation to:
On plotting y vs. [O
2
], we have a curve shown in Fig. 2-3.
Figure 2-3.
Percentage saturation, y, of myoglobin as a function of oxygen pressure, [O
2
].
