What happen if a cell keeps growing and?

Question

What happen if a cell keeps growing and growing without dividing? Would it die because does not have enough nutrients to keep the cell metabolism?

Answer 1

The surface area to volume ratio (SA/V) woul decrease and so diffusion across the cell membrane would be inadequate to support the needs of the cell which would eventually die due to lack of water and nutrients etc.

Answer 2

The real question is: why aren't there single-celled organisms

beyond a certain size?

A cell communicates chemically with its surroundings

by diffusion through the cell wall, so the ability of the

organism to exchange food, oxygen, and waste products

is a function of the ratio of the surface area of its cell wall

divided by the volume of material contained in the cell.

To see what this means, consider the volume of a sphere

(4/3) pi R^3  versus its surface area 4 pi R^2, where

R is the radius of the sphere. A measure of the efficiency

of transfer would  be proportional to the surface area

divided by the volume, which is

3/R

as R becomes large, the efficiency of transfer becomes

small.

This law also explains why there are no house sized

insects or giant spiders.

Answer 3

i just learned this actually! if the cell were to keep growing and growing, its surface area would become too large for nutrients to come in and get to each part inside the cell.

Answer 4

You get an elephant.

Answer 5

the one with the first answer has the right idea but a little off the mark. as the cell grows, its volume increases much faster than the surface area of the cell membrane. with a much higher volume, there are more organelles in the cell that need nutrients and also much more waste being generated by the cells metabolism and fighting off bacteria. so there wouldnt be enough surface area for food to come in and waste to get out of the cell fast enough. it would either starve to death or be poisoned by its own waste

Answer 6

Yeah, it will die.

Answer 7

Without dividing, a cell would eventually stop growing when the cell surface can no long support its growth by transporting enough nutrients and removing enough wastes.

Answer 8

Generally, cells that grow uncontrollable are cancer cells.  Normal cells have limiting mechanisms that regulate their growth.

Answer 9

The cell can't grow! It will terminate after the realization there is no route to realativity.