AP BIOLOGY

Detailed explanation-1: -To stay alive, a cell needs materials to move in and out across its membrane. As a cell grows bigger, its volume increases slower / faster than its surface area. At a certain point, the cell’s volume would be too small / too large compared to the area available for materials to move in and out.

Detailed explanation-2: -The need to be able to pass nutrients and gases into and out of the cell sets a limit on how big cells can be. The larger a cell gets, the more difficult it is for nutrients and gases to move in and out of the cell. As a cell grows, its volume increases more quickly than its surface area.

Detailed explanation-3: -Therefore, cells cannot survive without water, oxygen and food. Cells have multiple organelles (you might think of these like organs in humans) and the cells need to provide food, water and oxygen for them to perform their functions.

Detailed explanation-4: -As the size of a cell increases, its volume increases faster than the surface area. The decrease in the cell’s ratio of surface area to volume makes it more difficult for the cell to move needed materials in and waste products out quickly enough for the cell to survive.

Detailed explanation-5: -Osmosis plays a role in cell regulation since water molecules constantly relocate themselves to keep the cell at the correct concentration of all of its solutes. If osmosis did not occur, cells could enter a state of having too much water or too little water.