Download What do Cells Look Like? Introduction Points: |230

Investigation 9
What do Cells Look Like?
Introduction
Points:
|230
Microscope means “to look at small things” in Ancient Greek- the word is derived from micros skopein (small
things to look at, literally). The first microscope was invented by Galileo in 1610 and called the “occhiolino”
meaning “little eye”. Microscopes became biologically viable in 1665 when Robert Hooke first described a cell
in his book Micrographia. From there, early scientists Schleiden, Schwann, and Virchow used microscopes to
form what we recognize today as Cell Theory.
Objectives
1. To determine how to functionally use the microscope.
2. To determine what differences exist between types of cells.
3. To determine what cells are made of.
4. To introduce appropriate laboratory procedure.
Materials
Microscopes Slides
Elodea Toothpicks
Food Coloring
Procedure
1. Acquire an Elodea leaf. Prepare a wet slide. Observe the leaf under multiple magnifications, and draw the
most representative image below: (40pt)
2. How would you describe what you saw? (20pt)
3. Acquire a toothpick. Lightly scrape the inside of your cheek with the toothpick. Smear the residue onto your
slide, and then add less than a drop of food coloring to the residue. Observe this under the microscope, and
draw the most representative image below: (40pt)
4. How would you describe what you saw? (20pt)
5. What are the differences between the animal sample (you), and the plant sample? Why do you think that
there is a difference? (10pt)
6. What color was the plant sample? Why? (10pt)
7. Was the color in the plant sample particularly concentrated in any internal structure? Why might this be?
What was that structure? (10pt)
Study Questions
1. Why might some cells have internal structures? What are these structures called? (10pt)
2. What was the major difference between the animal and the plant cell? (Not color) (10pt)
3. Why do you suppose that the plant cell would have a rigid outer boundary, but the animal cell does not?
(10pt)
4. How do cells get things into and out of themselves? (10pt)
5. We know that single-celled organisms exist. How do they function without dedicated organs like lungs,
kidneys, a heart, etc? (10pt)
6. Of the cells that you observed, were they all the same? Are any two random cells from your body built the
same? (10pt)
7. What is the main difference between a Eukaryote and a Prokaryote? You may have to look this up in your
book. (10pt)
8. What kinds of molecules is a cell made out of? Do all cells possess these molecules? (10pt)