Download Lens Lab

Plant & Animal Cell Lab
Question
What do cells look like and how are plant and animal cells different?
Info
All living things are composed of cells. Cells that come from your body, like your cheek cells, are animal
cells. We will observe a prepared slide of a stained cheek cell. Plants are living organisms. Onions are
multicellular plants and have box-like cells with many of the basic plant organelles such as cell wall, cell
membrane, cytoplasm and a nucleus.
Hypothesis
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Materials
*Microscope
*Iodine
*Slide
*Coverslip
*Prepared cheek cell slide
*Forceps
*Microviewer
*Onion
Procedures Part 1:
1. Cut a small piece of onion.
2. Peel a thin, transparent membrane from the inner surface.
3. With your forceps, place a flat piece of this membrane on a glass slide. Be careful to
keep the membrane from folding and wrinkling.
4. Add one small drop of iodine. In this lab, iodine is being used as a stain. It makes
some organelles more visible. Place a cover slip on your slide.
5. Place your slide on the stage of your microscope. Secure it using the stage clips.
Procedures Part 2:
1.
Place your microviewer slide in the slot of your viewer. You are observing slide 4.
2.
Draw your data in the appropriate table.
Data
Object
Onion
Low Power
__________X
Medium Power
__________X
Object
Magnification
__________X
Prepared Cheek
Cell
Analyzing Data
1.
What was the general shape of the plant cell? __________________________________
2.
What was the general shape of the animal cell? _________________________________
3.
What round organelle was located in the center of both plant and animal cells? __________
4.
What other two structures were you able to observe in both plant and animal cells?
______________________________ and ______________________________