Question: How do cancer cells multiply without getting smaller and smaller and smaller etc. and what happens when they multiply? Also are there any other cells that are able to multiply as quicky as cancer cells?

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  1. Hhame4, wonderful questions and very challenging questions! Bacterial cells are still cells, and they multiply much faster then cancer cells and trust me are much more fun to work with! heheh and also there are more bacterial cells ON and IN your body, so many more then there are human cells! That I hope answers the second part of your question. 🙂

    Now the first part of your question: how do they multiply without getting smaller?Basically, cancer cell division is very tricky. Cancer cells don’t really get smaller, every cell has a size that it likes to be. Some cancer cells sort of like sticking together and forming big lump of cells! When cancer cells divide, they are very clever and hold onto the DNA that stops them from shrinking and getting smaller!

    This is a cool website that tackles the questions you asked https://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/whoami/findoutmore/yourbody/whatiscancer/whathappensincancer/howdohealthycellsbecomecancerous.aspx

    Hope it helps! 😀

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  2. Hey hhame4 thanks for the questions today! Mia’s answer covered a lot of it, but I’ll add a bit more!

    To make a big story short, the cells inside double their DNA before they divide. By doing this they help to make sure that there is always the same amount for every cell when they split into two new cells!

    Bacteria divide much much more quickly than human cells, even cancer ones! Part of the problem with cancer cells as well is not only do they divide quicker, but they might not know how to die. Every human cell has a program inside it that tells it when it’s time to die. Some cancer types don’t have this program, so they just keep on dividing! But, it still takes hours and hours. Bacteria can double their DNA and divide in under 1 hour! That’s why they can do damage to you so quickly!

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  3. Hi hhame4, for a cell to copy itself and divide it makes 2 of everything before it splits in two – meaning they will be a similar size each time! The fastest cells I know that multiply are bacteria (which can divide in 20 minutes!!!).

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  4. Yep, agree with the other scientists…cells (both human and bacterial) have to get really fat – twice their size before ‘dividing’ into two daughter cells. They have to make a second set of DNA as well as get the other cell materials to be double in number…

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