Cells come in a range of sizes, and a variety of shapes. Assuming a cell type has a conservative cube shape, it may have limits to size, because of the need of materials to diffuse into or out of the cell through the surface area of the cell membrane. Calculate the numerical changes of a cube-shaped cell from an original size of 10 μm × 10 μm × 10 μm.
-If the cell was a cube and you doubled the height,width,and length of the cell,how much would the surface area increase?

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Doubling the dimensions of a cube-shaped cell (height, width, and length) from 10 μm to 20 μm increases each side by 2 times, making the surface area increase by a factor of 4 (since surface area is proportional to the square of the dimensions).

Cells Come in a Range of Sizes, and a Variety