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Why is maximizing surface area and minimizing volume important to cells?

Answer 1

This method maximizes nutrient/material intake while minimizing metabolic demand.

Larger volume cells have a higher metabolic demand essentially because there is more to deal with; however, if a cell keeps its volume down but its surface area way up (by means of an endoplasmic reticulum or other foldings), it becomes very efficient. A cell's interaction with its environment occurs right at the cell membrane, and the more membrane there is (more surface area), the more efficient this interaction becomes.

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Answer 2

Daniel Arnold

In order to optimize cellular functions, a higher surface-to-volume ratio is ensured by minimizing volume, while maximizing surface area permits the efficient exchange of nutrients and waste.

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Answer from HIX Tutor

When evaluating a one-sided limit, you need to be careful when a quantity is approaching zero since its sign is different depending on which way it is approaching zero from. Let us look at some examples.