Download Surface area: volume ratio

Surface area: volume ratio
All cells need to take in oxygen, glucose, water and
other nutrition. They need to remove waste e.g.
carbon dioxide, heat.
As a cell, or organism, gets bigger, it requires more
substance exchange. But as it gets bigger, the
surface area: volume ratio decreases.
Larger organisms have developed transport
mechanisms to allow substance exchange, e.g.
heart and blood vessels, lungs, small intestine,
xylem and phloem.
CELL SIZE is limited by the limit of productive
surface area to volume ratio.