Biology Forum › Cell Biology › Why are cells small?
- AuthorPosts
- April 30, 2007 at 5:59 pm #7542pjd822Participant
Hi, I am taking a basic biology course and the instructor has challenged us with the question "Why must cells be small?" The question was raised in the context of the DNA synthesis stage of the cell reproduction cycle.
Thanks, Paul - April 30, 2007 at 6:01 pm #71884PoisonParticipant
Bigger area=harder control
Also it’s about the volume and surface area ratio. For optimum transport. - May 5, 2007 at 2:24 am #72122david23Participant
yeah pretty much, and also smaller the easier for nutrients to defuse within the cell.
- May 9, 2007 at 11:07 am #72429dr. dugmoreParticipant
look up "black perl" not the movie the organism, its pretty cool, and its only got 1 cell
- May 9, 2007 at 4:22 pm #72450DustfingerParticipant
Cells are also small because many transports in the cytoplasm are achieved by diffusion. However, for a distance double the molecules need more than double the time. If cells were bigger, processes would be very very slow.
- May 13, 2007 at 10:50 am #72602Tae Jun, YoonParticipant
I will give you some examples. Suppose that the shape of the cell is "sphere". then the volume of the sphere is (4/3)*pi*r^3, and the surface area of the sphere is 4*pi*r^2. the ratio of the volume to the area is (1/3)r. So as the value of r is increasing, the ratio is also increasing. Then the exchanging of materials through cell membrane is difficult.
- June 3, 2007 at 12:36 pm #73431mehdi71000Participant
If you’re panting a huge picture the smaller your brush is the more detail you will have
If you had a 1mm diameter cell, for human to function the human would be very big. And I think if cells were big the cell walls in comparison would be very thin since a cell wall is 2 cholesterols thick if I’m not mistaken. just like an egg. an egg is a huge cell if you remove the shell the membrane is very easily puncture able. Reason 3 maybe you’re too big. 😆
- AuthorPosts
You must be logged in to reply to this topic.