What is the relationship between cell size and the surface area/ to volume ratio?
October 28th, 2009 | by admin |Mitosis and Meiosis: That is what we are learning so it would have to pertain to that please.
So single cells have only one way to gain nutrients, and that is by diffusion. Diffusion, as you probably already know, is the passages of substances from an area of high concentration to an area of low concentration. Diffusion occurs across the cell membrane.
As a cell increases in size its volume increases faster than its surface area. The volume of a cell determines its nutrient need. While the surface area of a cell, made up up of the cell membrane, limits the amount of nutrients that can diffuse into the cell. Inother words, the larger the volume of a cell, the more nutrients it needs, and the larger the surface area of a cell, the more nutrients that can diffuse into the cell.
Since the volume of the cell increases faster than the surface area of the cell, at some point as a cell is growing, it reaches a critical point when the surface area for diffusion is no longer adequate to supply the amount of nutrients that the cell needs.
While I am not 100% sure how this relates to mitosis, it makes since, that as the cell reaches this critical point where its surface area for diffusion is no longer adequate to supply the nutrients needed to sustain the cell, it would need to divide.
Hope this helps.
One Response to “What is the relationship between cell size and the surface area/ to volume ratio?”
By Joanna A on Oct 28, 2009 | Reply
So single cells have only one way to gain nutrients, and that is by diffusion. Diffusion, as you probably already know, is the passages of substances from an area of high concentration to an area of low concentration. Diffusion occurs across the cell membrane.
As a cell increases in size its volume increases faster than its surface area. The volume of a cell determines its nutrient need. While the surface area of a cell, made up up of the cell membrane, limits the amount of nutrients that can diffuse into the cell. Inother words, the larger the volume of a cell, the more nutrients it needs, and the larger the surface area of a cell, the more nutrients that can diffuse into the cell.
Since the volume of the cell increases faster than the surface area of the cell, at some point as a cell is growing, it reaches a critical point when the surface area for diffusion is no longer adequate to supply the amount of nutrients that the cell needs.
While I am not 100% sure how this relates to mitosis, it makes since, that as the cell reaches this critical point where its surface area for diffusion is no longer adequate to supply the nutrients needed to sustain the cell, it would need to divide.
Hope this helps.
References :
I have a bio degree.