Cell Size and Diffusion Worksheet
Cube
Surface
Area (cm2)
Volume
(cm3)
Diffusion
Diffusion
Depth (mm) Rate
(mm/min)
1 cm3
Surface
Area-toVolume
Ratio
6:1
1 cm
6 cm2
2 cm
24 cm2
8 cm3
3:1
5 mm
3 cm
54 cm2
27 cm3
2:1
5 mm
5 mm
0.5
mm/min
0.5
mm/min
0.5
mm/min
Complete the following:
1. Draw a measured sketch of the cross section of each cube after soaking in
HCL.
2. What evidence is there that HCL diffuses into the cubes?
After the cubes were placed in the HCL for 10 minutes, the pink area was
disappearing. This was an evidence of HCL diffusing the cubes.
3. What happens to the diffusion rate, as a cell gets larger?
As cells gets larger, we figured out that the diffusion rate stayed constant. All of the
cubes were diffused at a rate of 0.5 mm/min.
4. What happens to the surface area-to-volume ratio, as a cell gets larger?
As the cell gets larger, we figured out that the ratio decreases.
5. Propose a hypothesis to explain why large organisms have developed from
more cells rather than larger cells.
The larger the cell, the harder the cells communicate within the cells. In order to
avoid this, cells divide in to more smaller cells rather than larger cells.