Eliza Schwarz | DY1

21/10/22

How Much Does the Surface Area to Volume

Ratio Affect the Rate of Diffusion?

Aim
We want to examine whether and how the rate of diffusion over time
is dependent on the cubes surface area to volume ratio (SA:V).
Smaller cubes have bigger SA:V than big cubes. We know that cells
seek to have the biggest surface area possible and a small volume.
We will therefore see whether one of the reasons they do it is the
rate of diffusion.

Background Information
Diffusion is a process of spontaneous spreading of particles in an
environment (e.g. a cell), which is a result of chaotic collisions
of molecules with each other or with the molecules of the
surrounding environment. It can be observed in cells when
substances such as water, oxygen or nutrients are transported
inside or outside the cell, or to different cellular organelles.
Diffusion can be easily observed by gently pouring a coloured
liquid into water. In this experiment we will examine the
diffusion of a solution in a jelly-like substance - agar.

Since both the solution and the agar are colourless we will use
agar that was mixed with phenolphthalein. This also colourless
substance is a commonly used indicator that changes its colour
into pink in the presence of a base. Because of this, when we add
the pink agar cubes to the dilute HCl solution, the cubes will
turn colourless as the HCl diffuses inside.

Hypothesis
I believe that the higher the SA:V ratio is, the less time it will
take for the HCl to diffuse into the centre of the cubes. In order
for anything to diffuse into a cell, it needs to pass through the
cell membrane. The higher the SA:V ratio of a cell is, the more
membrane there is in comparison to the volume of the cell,
allowing more materials to pass through.
Variables

Independent Reason How it will be

controlled

The dimension of the The aim of the The blocks will be

agar blocks experiment is to individually
measure the measured and cut to
relationship between form six blocks of
surface area and different
volume. Changing the dimensions. 1x1x1cm,
size of the blocks 1x1x0.5cm
will allow us to 1x.05x.05cm,
observe this 0.5x0.5x0.5cm,
relationship 0.5x0.5x0.25cm and
0.5x0.25x0.25cm

Dependent How it will be How it will be

measured measured in a
consistent and
controlled manner

Time needed for the A stopwatch will be The stopwatch starts

blocks to become used to measure the as soon as the
completely time gelatin block drops
neutralised into the test tube
and stops as soon as
the gelatin block
becomes colourless.
The experimenter
will constantly
monitor the blocks
to ensure accurate
timing.

Controlled How it will be How it will affect

controlled the data if it is not
controlled

Concentration of the The same gelatin If there is less

indicator solution will be indicator the colour
(phenolphthalein) used to create all change will be
the blocks harder to see

Volume of HCl The same amount of If the volume of HCl

HCl will be measured isn’t constant, then
out and poured into some blocks might
each test tube not be fully
submerged, and won’t
provide equal
surface area

Concentration of HCl The HCl solution The higher the

 will be prepared concentration of
prior to the ammonium hydroxide,
experiment the faster the
reaction rate
between it and the
base, outside the
standard time.

Data Collection

Dimension 1x1x1 0.5x1x1 0.5x0.5x1 0.5x0.5x0 0.5x0.5x0 0.5x0.25x

s .5 .25 0.25

Volume 1 0.5 0.25 0.125 0.0625 0.03125

(cm3)

Surface 6 24 54 96 150 216

Area
(cm2)

SA : V 6:1 8:1 10:1 12:1 16:1 20:1

Time (s) 1h19m25s 1h8m30s 46m33s 36m52s 27m25s 18m04s

Data processing
Data Analysis

The graph above shows the surface area to volume ratio of five
different agar blocks and the amount of time it took for full
discoloration to take place in them. There is a negative
trendline, which shows that as the SA:V ratio increases, the time
needed for full discolouration decreases. The graph also shows
that the time starts to plateau towards the end.

Conclusion

From the data obtained it can be concluded that there is some

relationship between SA:V and the rate of diffusion. The
experiment results seen on the graph (trend line) show that the
bigger the surface area to volume ratio, the faster the rate of
diffusion. Looking at the data we can notice that smaller cubes
(of smaller volume) have a bigger SA:V ratio. We can then state
that the results of the experiment have also shown that the
smaller the cube, the bigger is the rate of diffusion.

The obtained results have a reflection in the biological world. As

said in the background information section, cells seek to have the
biggest SA:V they can. Cells need to be able to take in nutrients
from their surroundings and expel waste through their cell
membrane. If there is a large surface area to volume ratio, there
is more cellular membrane to be responsible for both of these
functions. If a cell gets too large, its SA:V will get smaller and
there will not be enough surface area to expel waste or intake
nutrients fast enough and the cell will die.

Evaluation
Strengths:

- Good Model, since the blocks are rectangular, it would be

easy to change the size of them as needed.
- Scalable, due to the nature of the method, it is technically
possible to scale the method up or down to any size of agar
block, allowing for a large possible data set

Weaknesses:

- Difficulty to cut blocks, due to how small the blocks were

and to the jelly-like nature of the substance used, the
blocks were difficult to cut to an accurate size and may have
led to slightly inaccurate results
- Determining discolouration, towards the end, it got harder
and harder to tell if there was any colour left in the
blocks, especially in the larger ones

Improvements
If we were to do the lab again, an important aspect to focus on
would be to have an objective way of judging the discoloration of
the agar block. was. The current data still makes sense, but
objective methods can make the data more accurate, and the more
accurate the data, the better. One way to test colour change is to
see how much light passes through. A block just placed in an HCl
acid solution does not transmit much light, while a discoloured
agar block transmits almost all light.