Final answer:
Cell division combats the limitation of cell size due to the decreasing surface area-to-volume ratio as cells grow. It allows multicellular organisms to grow, replaces worn-out cells, and repairs injuries by increasing the number of new, smaller cells with a better surface area-to-volume ratio.
Step-by-step explanation:
How Cell Division Solves the Problem of Increasing Size
Cell division is a fundamental process by which organisms grow, repair damaged structures, and maintain healthy tissue. As cells reach their maximum size, they must make a vital decision: divide or die. This is due to the surface area-to-volume ratio, which decreases as cells increase in size. With insufficient surface area, a cell struggles to support its volume, leading to division. Cell division alleviates this problem by producing two daughter cells from one parent cell, each with a more favorable surface area-to-volume ratio.
In multicellular organisms like plants and animals, cell division enables growth by increasing the number of cells. While in prokaryotes, cell division is tightly coupled with cell growth, as they grow to a fixed size and then reproduce through binary fission. When considering plant growth, cells produced by division in the meristems later expand, enhancing the plant's size. However, after cells differentiate, they cannot divide further, which emphasizes the significance of a continuous supply of new cells for growth and repair.
Cell cycle is the series of events that take place in a cell leading to its growth and division into two new cells, and is essential for organisms to develop from a single cell into a multitudinous cellular structure. This cycle also plays a critical role in repairing damaged cells, like healing a cut on the finger, where new skin cells are produced through division of existing ones, and replacing old cells that wear out over time.