Clarification on Surfactant

[avalonisland888]

In school, I learned that without surfactant, the alveoli will collapse. Doesn't this mean the resulting A3 bubble should be smaller than both A1 and A2 instead of bigger?

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[Goofy Goober]

In school, I learned that without surfactant, the alveoli will collapse. Doesn't this mean the resulting A3 bubble should be smaller than both A1 and A2 instead of bigger?
View attachment 314551

I interpret this in a different way. The alveoli are covered in surfactant which is an amphipathic detergent. Considering this, the fact that they are connected in this way already, they would just go on to combine due to their phospholipid (amphipathic) like behavior. So A is really the only logical answer. Hope that makes sense.