standard_description: Use a pair of perpendicular number lines, called axes, to define a coordinate system, with the intersection of the lines (the origin) arranged to coincide with the 0 on each line and a given point in the plane located by using an ordered pair of numbers, called its coordinates. Understand that the first number indicates how far to travel from the origin in the direction of one axis, and the second number indicates how far to travel in the direction of the second axis, with the convention that the names of the two axes and the coordinates correspond (e.g., x-axis and x-coordinate, y-axis and y-coordinate).
problem_activity: Activity
In this activity, students calculate the surface area to volume ratios of animals with different shapes and think about how this ratio might be important in biology. Note that this is the first time students will be using formulas for the surface area and volume of a sphere, and that these formulas are given without derivation. Students used the sphere volume formula in grade 8.
Launch
“Assume a spherical cow” is a common joke about physics. Sometimes in physics, everything about the world is made as simple as possible. There is no air resistance, and everything is modeled with ideal shapes like a sphere or a point. Tell students they will do the same today with spherical elephants and cylindrical snakes.
Student Facing
For a sphere with radius
\(r\)
, its volume is
\(\frac43 \pi r^3\)
and its surface area is
\(4\pi r^2\)
.
Let’s model an elephant with a sphere that has a radius of 4.5 feet.
What is the volume of the elephant?
What is the surface area of the elephant?
Let’s model a snake with a cylinder of length 3 feet and diameter 0.2 feet.
What is the volume of the snake?
What is the surface area of the snake?
Compute the surface area to volume ratio, or
\(\frac{SA}{V}\)
, for each animal.
Student Response
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Activity Synthesis
Ask students how the surface area to volume ratio could affect the biology of snakes and elephants. The goal is for students to notice that the snake has a much higher ratio and to think about the impacts this may have.
One aspect of the biology is that elephants are warm-blooded, so to maintain a consistent body temperature, their bodies need to minimize the surface area through which heat enters or escapes their bodies. Snakes are cold-blooded, so their bodies maximize surface area in order to absorb heat from the environment through their skin.


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