Download Answers to Cell Lab

Cell Structure and Function
Lab Drawings: Draw 1 cell at high power and label parts as given in directions.
Elodea leaf cells (400X)
Stained Onion Cells (400X)
Stained Cheek Cell (400X)
Stem Cell (from pictures)
Lab Summary
1. “Plants and animals obtain food in different ways.” What microscopic evidence
did you see to support that statement? Plant cells have chloroplasts and
organelle that can produce food. Animals do not.
2. Did the iodine solution aid in your observation of onion cells? Why do biologists
use stains to study cells? Yes, the cytoplasm and the nucleus were much easier
to see. Stains allow parts of the cell to be seen more clearly.
3. What microscopic structure shows that the onion cell is a plant cell?
The cell wall
4. What structures can be seen in an unstained onion cell? The cell wall
5. What structures can be seen in a stained onion cell? The cell wall, cytoplasm
and nucleus, (maybe the cell membrane)
6. In what ways are Elodea cells different from onion cells? What organelle does
Elodea have that the onion does not? Why might this be so?
The Elodea has chloroplasts and the onion cells did not. The onion cells that
we were looking at are found below ground where the sun doesn’t shine;
therefore, chloroplasts are of no use to them. If I had given you the leafy
part of the onion, you would have seen chloroplasts.
7. The plasma membranes of plant cells are difficult to see. Why? They are so thin
and since they lie next to the cell wall they are hard to see.
8. In what ways are cheek cells different from plant cells? What structures are not
found in the cheek cells? Cheek cells are irregular in shape and much smaller.
They do not have cell walls, chloroplasts, or a large vacuoles.
9. What structures are found in both plant and animal cells? Cell membranes,
nucleus, mitochondria, golgi apparatus, endoplasmic reticulum, ribosomes,
etc.
10. What difference do you notice in stem cells relative to cheek cells? The nucleus
is much larger.
11. Would plant cells have stem cells? Explain. Yes, because they start out as a 1
cell embryo. That cell must give rise to all types of cells life leaf cells, stem
cells, root cells, etc.