Is it better for cells to have larger or smaller surface area to volume ratio?

Answer 1

If the cells in question are roughly spherical, then a small cell has a larger surface-area-to-volume ratio (SVR) (for spheres, the ratio is SVR = 3/r where r is the radius of the sphere; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sphere).

However, most cells are not spheres. As a result, the answer is, "It depends." For example, some motor neurons are over a meter long (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Efferent_nerve), and Purkinje cells in the cerebellum have elaborate branching patterns in their dendritic arbors (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purkinje_cell). The longer a cell is and the more branches it has, the higher the surface area, while the volume does not change nearly as much. By contrast, red blood cells are like deflated balls -- their surface area is not too different from that of a sphere of the same radius. They have a far lower SVR than neurons of the same volume.

You can see that even the words "small cell" and "large cell" are imprecise; it depends on whether you're measuring the cell's length (and in which direction!), or its volume, or something else.

Answer 2

which of the cells has the greatest surface to volume ratio

Answer 3

As the cell gets bigger, the surface to volume ratio gets smaller.

Answer 4

The greatest ratio would have the shapes like very thin stripes, rolled foils or tubes, like a pasta, colons, and grass.

Answer 5

The smaller cell.

Answer 6

smaller