/sci/ - Science & Math

[Anonymous No.10378151]

Let's say an amoeba big enough to engulf an human performs phagocytosis on him, would an unarmed human be able to tear it apart and escape? What if he had a knife?

[Anonymous No.10378161]

>>10378151
a cell large enough to engulf a human would probably have a membrane made of something rubberlike, so a knife would be the minimum equipment necessary to even stand a chance.

[Anonymous No.10378163]

>>10378161
We're assuming it's normal amoeba cell wall and cytoplasm, with thickness scaled.

[Anonymous No.10378172]

>>10378151
>Let's say an amoeba big enough to engulf an human
not gonna happen because it's single celled but ok

>performs phagocytosis on him,
i mean if it eats humans then it probably has a mechanism for killing humans, it's not just gonna eat a live human. it'll probably have a specialized stabby foot that can stab people and drag them to their mouth, but we can pretend that this won't happen for no reason.

>would an unarmed human be able to tear it apart and escape?

And this is my point. there's literally no way of knowing this because we don't know what environment it would live in or what it's lifestyle would be. if it's like a snake then no, probably not because the skin (or i guess outer covering) would be too tough. I'm leaning towards that but there's no way of knowing without knowing how it'll move.

>what if he had a knife?

depends on the thickness but since there's no way of knowing maybe.

[Anonymous No.10378181]

>>10378163
Sploosh. The amoeba is dead because it fell apart under gravity. It also dies because it's too big for resources to diffuse in. There are giant single celled organisms though. They don't do anything very fast. Pic related

[Anonymous No.10378185]

>>10378163
>with thickness scaled
Yeah this won't work.

The membranes amoeba are made of, even if "scaled up", will not sustain a cell of the mass you're talking about physically. It also won't work chemically since the barrier will become so thick that nutrient uptake and metabolite exhaust will become impossible.

>>10378181
This.

Very large cells either have a lot of shit going on at the same time (see human osteoclast), or they're wobbling around and not doing much since the movement of metabolites is hampered by the sheer size.

[Anonymous No.10378186]

>>10378181
>>10378172
>>10378185
Do I really need to specify we are working under an hypothetical scenario where a scaled up amoeba/scaled down human would be possible retaining any of their proportional properties?

[Anonymous No.10378190]

>>10378186

Like I said in my original response. All other things being equal, the membrane of such a huge amoeba would be rubbery, meaning you'd need at least a knife to punch through it.

[Anonymous No.10378193]

>>10378190
Would you be able to swim in the cytoplasm and hijack it from the inside or would it be too dense?

[Anonymous No.10378200]

>>10378186
if you want a realistic answer, then you need to think about these things. you're asking /sci/ not /x/ we're not gonna try to answer your question based on nothing. if you can just imagine any answer with no other constraints then why even ask?

[Anonymous No.10378207]

>>10378193
Average cytoplasm has characteristics similar to water (since it is mostly water), maybe a little bit more viscous. So yeah you could swim in it.

[Anonymous No.10378303]

>>10378163
Thickness can't be scaled. The plasma membrane is essentially a phospholipid bilayer. Two sheets of a lipid and a phosphate bound together, phosphate to phosphate.

You can't scale that.

[Anonymous No.10379772]

>>10378151
good one.

[Anonymous No.10380031]

Not everything scales in a linear manner. An ant scaled to be fifty feet tall would instantly crash to the ground as it's scaled up legs could hold the weight of its scaled up body. Likewise an amoeba scaled up with a thicker membrane would no longer function because the membrane itself would no longer function.
The closest answer you're going to get is to open a Dungeons and Dragons monster manual and look up the gelatinous cube.

[Anonymous No.10380033]

>>10380031
could NOT hold the weight

[Anonymous No.10380247]

god I want to be eaten by an amoeba

[Anonymous No.10381152]

>>10378151
Did you watch The Blob, OP?

[Anonymous No.10381240]

Unicellular organisms are unicellular because they are small. A large one can't survive

[Anonymous No.10382079]

>>10378151
Where do you live where you have to fend of amoebas?

[Anonymous No.10382134]

>>10378151
We may be fucked

[Anonymous No.10382582]

>>10378151
>amoeba big enough to engulf an human
No such thing could exist.

[Anonymous No.10382685]

I to am into vore OP.