Why is it an advantage to have many small cells instead of one big cell?

Answer 1

Smaller cells are better than larger cells because they are able to produce, digest, and waste faster. If it's smaller it can go through faster than a larger one because there is less to travel, also because the volume grows faster than the surface area in the cell.

Answer 2

small cells are essential for easier and quicker rate of diffusion of substances within the body of an organism..thus saying it wil take long time for substances to reach their destination if the cells were large.

Answer 3

I would question whether or not they are. Cells vary quite a bit in size - some are very tiny, others can be enormous. For example, skeletal muscle cells, egg cells, megakaryocytes are all examples of very big cells and do their jobs pretty well.

Now if what you meant is why does there appear to be an upper limit in cell size, why is it that big organisms are made up of thousands or billions of cells instead of just one big cell, it's because as cells grow, their ability to accept nutrients via diffusion becomes prohibitive. The experiment we did in my bio class was to stain bits of Gelatin with red dye - the big cubes had big white centers (the red dye couldn't diffuse in) whereas the small cubes were solid red. Big cells could never absorb enough nutrients through diffusion.

Answer 4

All cells receive nutrients and oxygen via diffusion. As cell size increases, its surface area increases by an exponent of 2 (n2) while its volume increases by an exponent of 3 (n3). Thus as cells increase in size, surface area to volume ratio decreases.

Since cell requirements are governed by its volume and its uptake ability depends on its surface area, the small surface area to volume ratio will lead to the cell being unable to sustain itself as its uptake is too little as compared to its requirements.

Therefore, it is advantageous for cells to be small as this would lead to a large surface area to volume ratio and thus the cell being able to sustain itself. Therefore having many small cells will lead to a greater total surface area than a single large cell.

Answer 5

Small cells function more efficiently than large cells because they need lesser food to function. They also have a better chance at survival than larger complex cells.

Answer 6

it has a smaller surface area to volume ratio

Answer 7

as cells increase, the proportionality of surface area becomes less effective to the volume of a cell

Answer 8

in multicellular organisms like humans hundredes of metabolic activities take place so we require many cells performing diferent functions.we also require cells to build up our body .