[extropy-chat] Singularity heat waste

[BillK]

On 7/17/06, Damien Broderick wrote:
> At 12:41 PM 7/17/2006 +0100, BillK wrote:
>
> >Thus, if the cell grows beyond a certain limit, not enough material
> >will be able to cross the membrane fast enough to accommodate the
> >increased cellular volume. When this happens, the cell must divide
> >into smaller cells with favorable surface area/volume ratios, or cease
> >to function.
>
> Or elongate, or become stellate.
>


True, single cells form many varied shapes, but then you run up
against the other restriction.  ;)

Cells have to remain very small unless they contain their own store of
nutrient. The female ovum is probably the largest single cell.

The overall restriction is that the cell internal volume (cytoplasm)
is limited by the amount of nutrients that it can receive and wastes
that it can get rid of through the surface area.

The other restriction is that eukaryotic cell size is also limited by
the amount of cytoplasmic activity that the cell's nucleus can
control.

STRUCTURE AND FUNCTION OF THE CELL
<http://sps.k12.ar.us/massengale/cell%20%20notes%20bi.htm>


BillK