Question

Describe how people change their body shapes (not their clothes) when they are very hot and when they are very cold. Use your knowledge of surface area : volume ratios to explain why we do this.

Answer 1

When the cell increases in size, the volume increases faster than the surface area, because volume is cubed where surface area is squared. When there is more volume and less surface area, diffusion takes longer and is less effective.

Answer 2

Answer:

This quesiton is unclear

Explanation:

The body has negtive feedback loops that either vasoconstrict (preserving heat by lessening the surface area of blood vessels so they are exposed to less cold and release less heat) and vasodilation, where blood vessels are expanded and have higher surface areas so the body hopes to lose more heat to cool down.

If this is purely body language (like going into a fetal position when its cold: to lessen the surface area exposed to the cold temperature and lose less heat, imagine an ice cube vs. a long thin tube of ice with equal volume, the cube will last longer. Similarly our bodies would spread out to release more heat (unless there was sun) this is to expose the most surface area, allowing our body to release the most heat. Note: this is pretty insignificant change, and in extreme temperatures will likely not help, but it does contribute.