Name: ____________________________________________
Date: ______________________________
CELL CITY ANALOGY
Cell – the basic unit of life.
Organelle – is the small specialized structures found inside a cell that perform a specific
function.
The cell is a fabulous piece of machinery. All tiny intricate parts or organelles work together to
make the cell function properly. We can compare cells to real-life structures that enable us to
better understand the functioning of the organelles and of the cell as a whole.
The figure below shows a city that is a model for a cell. Study the figure and use it to complete
the analogy below.
A cell is like a city. For example:
1. The cell membrane would be the ____________________________ because ____________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________.
2. The nucleus would be the ________________________________ because ________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________.
3. The endoplasmic reticulum would be the _____________________________________ because
__________________________________________________________________________________________.
4. The golgi apparatus would be the _______________________________ because _________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________.
5. The mitochondrion would be the _______________________________ because _________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________.
6. The vacuole would be the _______________________________ because _________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________.
7. The lysosomes would be the _____________________________ because ________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________.
8. The ribosomes would be the _____________________________ because ________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________.
9. The cytoplasm would be the _____________________________ because ________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________.
10. Does the “Cell City” represent a plant cell or an animal cell? Explain your answer.