how does the surface area to volume ratio of a cell affect the rate at which it feeds?

Question

also, how could the surface area be increased without changing the volume?

Answer 1

I love it when school is going again..the questions on here get so much better...

Surface area to volume...is one of the great marvels of biology...organisms have had to find ways of increasing surface area..while maintaining volume...as any increase surface area with an increase in volume would be pointless....

Remember the more surface area the more receptors and transporters on the surface many of which are involved in taking in nutrients and minerals essential to cell function...

So...how do we change SA without changing volume....one way is to have more folds and convulutions on the cell surface...for example in the small intestine..where our food is absorbed into our bloodstreams... there are villi and microvilli...which are finger like projections that have very little volume but a lot of surface area....

Answer 2

The surface to volume ratio is probably the principle limiting factor of cell size. The larger a cell gets, the smaller the surface to volume ratio becomes. In other words, with each increase in cell size there is relatively less surface through which the cell can absorb oxygen and nutrients, and get rid of waste products.

The surface can be increased without changing the volume by changing the shape of the cell. For example, a 2x2x2 inch cube has a volume of 8 cubic inches and a surface area of 24 square inches. Changing the dimensions to 2x4x1 keeps the volume at 8 cubic inches, but increases the surface area to 28 square inches.

Answer 3

Cells desire to excrete wastes and launch warmth on an analogous fee because it produces wastes and warm temperature. If the cellular turns into too tremendous, there'll in no way be sufficient floor section to excrete all the wastes and launch all the nice and comfy temperature produced by making use of the cellular (the quantity is too a lot). to ward off this, the cellular has a decrease to how tremendous it ought to strengthen. in case you want some more advantageous rationalization: you've probable realized in math that when an merchandise multiplies in length, the quantity multiplies more advantageous than does the floor section. the floor section to volume ratio of a cellular subsequently turns into smaller because the article will strengthen in length. as an instance, a 10 x 10 x 10 cm dice has a floor portion of six hundred cm squared and a volume of one thousand cm cubed. (The ratio is 6:10) a larger dice with 100 x 100 x 100 cm has a floor portion of 60000 and a volume of one million. (The ratio is 6:100)