Download Plant and Animal Cell Lab

Plant and Animal Cell Lab
Purpose: To observe a variety of cell types and structures they contain.
Part A: Cheek Cells
1. Put a drop of methylene blue on a slide.
2. Gently scrape the inside of your cheek with the flat side of a toothpick. Scrape lightly.
3. Stir the end of the toothpick in the stain and throw the toothpick away.
4. Place a coverslip onto the slide
*You are looking for light colored blobs with dark spots in them. Perfect circles with black outlines are air bubbles.
Part B: Onion Cells
Peel of a thin slice of onion and put it on the slide.
Put a drop of methylene blue on the onion slice and put a cover slip over it.
Part C: Elodea Cells
1. Get a leaf of Elodea and place it on the slide.
2. Put a drop of water on it and place a cover slip over it.
Part D: Potato Cell
1. Punch a cork borer through a potato to obtain a cylinder full of potato.
2. Slice a thin piece of potato from the cylinder and make a wet mount slide using iodine.
Part E: Cork Cell
1. Obtain a prepared slide of the cork cells.
2. Observe under the microscope.
Draw each cell in the circles below. Label the structures you saw.
Cheek
Onion
Potato
Elodea
Cork
Post Lab Questions
1. List the 3 parts of the Cell Theory
2. Describe the function of the following
cell membrane
cytoplasm
nucleus
chloroplasts
Vacuoles
Cell Wall
3. Is the cheek cell a eukaryote or prokaryote? How do you know?
4. Describe the shape and the location of chloroplasts.
5. Why were no chloroplasts found in the onion cells? (hint: think about where you find onions)
6. Name two structures found in plant cells but NOT animal cells.
7. Name three structures found in plant cells AND animal cells.
8. What structure surrounds the cell membrane (in plants) and gives the cell support.
9. The mouth is the first site of chemical digestion in a human. Your saliva starts the process of breaking down the
food you eat. Keeping this in mind, what organelle do you think would be numerous inside the cells of your mouth?
10. Create a Venn Diagram below to show the differences and similarities between a plant and animal cell.