“Coldclay”: How Surface Area to Volume Ratio Affects Thermoregulation

Abstract

The topic of this investigation is what factors affect thermoregulation. We performed an experiment to find the relationship between surface-area to volume ratio and rate of heat loss in animals. The topic was not fully understood in our class lecture, so we decided to further investigate so as to find a definite answer. We hypothesized that animals with a smaller SA/V ratio lost heat at a slower rate. We ran an experiment using clay shapes of various sizes, ice, and LoggerPro. From the results of the experiment, we found that SA/V ratios do have an effect on rate of heat loss, which explains why animals of the same genus vary so much in size across biomes.