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Ch. 39 - Animal Form and Function

Chapter 38, Problem 3

Which of the following statements regarding surface area and volume in animals are correct? Select True or False for each statement. T/F As an animal grows, its volume increases more rapidly than its surface area. T/F A chihuahua has a higher surface area to volume ratio than a great dane. T/F Animals with high surface area to volume ratios heat and cool more slowly than animals with lower surface area to volume ratios. T/F As an animal's volume increases, its total surface area decreases.

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Hello everyone and welcome to today's video. So the mouse has a larger surface area to volume ratio compared to the elephant. Hence which of the following is true. Let's take this concept that we see here and rewarded down in this description so that we can understand what it means. If we have a larger animal, this larger animal is going to have a smaller surface area to volume ratio. And if we have a smaller animal, this smaller animal is going to have a larger surface area to volume ratio. Now if we have a very high surface area to volume ratio, then this means that heat is going to be able to escape more efficiently. And the contrary would be true for these organisms that have a smaller surface area to volume ratio. Now, let's think about this in the sense of metabolism. These smaller animals that have a very high surface area to volume ratio need to also have a very high metabolic rate. They need to be very active in order to replenish the heat that they lost because of this very high surface area to volume ratio. Now that we have written down out of this, let's go over our answer choices so that we may begin to solve the problem. Beginning by answer choice A amounts will lose more heat than the elephant here we have that these animals that have a very high surface area to volume ratio such as the mouse are going to lose more heat. So this is definitely true and we're not going to cancel this out. Then we have the the elephant will lose more heat than the mouse. Remember? The L. A. P. And has a very small surface area to volume ratio because it is a large animal because of this, it is not going to lose as much heat as the mouse because it doesn't have the space for the heat to come out. So we're going to cancel it out because it is an incorrect statement. Then we have see the elephant has a higher metabolic rate than the mouse. Remember the animals where the heat escapes very frequently need to have a higher metabolic rate. And these animals are usually smaller animals. So the mouse will actually have a higher metabolic rate than the elephant. And we're going to cancel this out. Finally, we have the elephant is more active than the mouse. Well, we already established that the mouse has a higher metabolism. So it is also going to be more active than the elephant in fact. So we're also going to cancel this out. This is all going to leave us with answer choice. A the mouse will lose more heat than the elephant as the only correct answer choice in our question and the final answer. I really hope this video helped you and I really hope to see you on the next one