2007-10-23 08:34:25 · 6 answers · asked by Anonymous in Science & Mathematics ➔ Biology
To quote from the source below:
"In both plants and animals, the size of the cells bears no relationship to the size of the organism. An elephant and a flea have cells of about the same size; the elephant just has more of them.
Why is such uniformity in cell size maintained? A clue can be found in the fact that the surface area/volume ratio for an object of a given shape depends on its size... The complex chemical processes in a cell and the large molecules that participate in them require a significant volume. Yet the cell must also exchange substances with its surroundings to support the active metabolism within. Too large a cell will not have enough surface for this exchange to occur, unless it is highly elongated like a vertebrate nerve cell, increasing the surface/volume ratio."
Hope that helps!
2007-10-23 10:55:23 · answer #1 · answered by doc j 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The surface of the cell increases as a function of the square of its radius, but the volume of the cell incsreases as a function of the cube of its radius. So the volume increases much faster than the surface. As most nutrients and waste have to pass through the cell membrane, pretty soon the cell surface can no longer support a bigger cell. The cell surface is the limiting factor for the size of the cell.
2007-10-23 15:50:35 · answer #2 · answered by OKIM IM 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Like bricks on a building they need to be small so the structure takes shape. If the structure is to look like more than just a big cell, they need to be very small.
2007-10-23 15:40:29 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
It's supply and demand. The initial cell phone was bulky and didn't fit in any place. Manufactures and companies started making smaller casings for convenience to the user. If you can fit it in your pocket or in a purse, it was good. Then trend kicked in and it seemed the smaller and thinner the phone the more popular the item became. They even started spoofing this fact in movies such as Zoolander.
2007-10-23 15:45:48 · answer #4 · answered by Noel 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Surface tension. The cell wall can only hold so much stuff inside of it before it bursts.
2007-10-23 15:43:41 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
they need to be small to transport food and waste easily around it. if the cell was bigger, it would die by the time the food got the where it needed to be or the waste would pile up and kill it.
2007-10-23 15:49:31 · answer #6 · answered by dcarcia@sbcglobal.net 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋