Before the cubes were submerged into NaOH:

The cubes after 30 seconds of submersion:

5 minutes of submersion:

After 10  minutes if submersion:

The cubes cut into halves after the 10 minutes of submersion:

data table:

 

Conclusion Questions:

1. In terms of maximizing diffusion, what was the most effective size cube that you tested?

The most effective size cube that we tested was the smallest cube that had a volume of 1cm³, which had an 87.5% diffusion.

 

2. Why was that size most effective at maximizing diffusion? what are the important factors that affect how materials diffuse into cells or tissues?

The cube with a volume of 1cm³ was the most effective at maximizing diffusion. This cube has a smaller volume and surface area than the other two cubes, which will take less time to fully diffuse. The higher the surface area to volume ratio, the faster the diffusion process will be. Temperature is also an important factor that affects how the material diffuses into the cells. The higher the temperature, the faster the diffusion will occur.

 

3. If a large surface area is helpful to cells, why do cells not grow to be very large?

Cells do not grow to be very large, because the volume increases at a faster rate than the surface area, which will make the surface area to volume ratio lower.

 

4. You have three cubes, A, B, and C. They have surfaced to volume ratios of 3:1, 5:2, and 4:1, respectively. Which of these cubes is going to be the most effective at maximizing diffusion, how do you know this?

Cube C with the 4:1 ratio will be the most effective at maximizing diffusion, because of the higher surface area to volume ratio.

 

5. How does your body adapt surface area-to-volume ratios to help exchange gases?

The human body has adapted to having bigger organs with small spheres that cover the surface area, which helps to efficiently exchange gases. The cells are often a long thin shape.

 

6. Why can’t certain cells, like bacteria, get to be the size of a small fish?

The size would be too big and inefficient. The decrease of the surface area to volume would make diffusion take longer to reach the centre of the cell.

 

7. What are the advantages of large organisms being multicellular?

Multicellular organisms have many cells, while unicellular organisms contain just one cell each. Multicellular organisms have cells that carry out specific tasks. This allows the multicellular organisms to have a variety of functions.