FUN FACTS ABOUT CELLS
1. Everything that has life – from humans
to plants to animals to birds to
microorganisms – everything is made of
cells. Some living organisms can be singlecelled while some are multicellular. For
example, bacteria are single-celled
organisms while trees, birds, animals,
humans – they are all multicellular
organisms.
2. Now, we know from our scientists
worldwide that live just evolved on Earth
somewhere in the distant past. For life to evolve, cells were required. So, somewhere
in the distant past, the first cell originated on this planet. Just how back in past we
are look into? According to speculations of scientists, the first cell originated on Earth
some 3.8 billion years ago.
3. Here is something interesting – there are some nonliving objects on earth that are
also made of cells but they (those cells) were once living. For instance wood (dead
cells of plants), dust in our house (a portion of that contains dead cells), wool, hair,
leather (they were also living cells at one point). Things like steel, iron, ceramics,
aluminum etc. are not made of cells.
4. There are two primary types of cells – the Eukaryotic cells and the Prokaryotic
cells. Difference between the two? Well, here is the difference: Eukaryotic cells have
a membrane enclosing a true nucleus. Prokaryotic cells on the other hand do not have
a definite nucleus.
5. The first ever cell that originated on Earth was a Prokaryotic cell. Eukaryotic cells
later evolved from the Prokaryotic cells.
6. Cells are really tiny. So tiny that we cannot see them using our naked eyes. We
usually need microscope to see those cells. However, exceptions are always there.
Nerve cells or neurons that can stretch right up to our toes starting from our hips.
7. Here is something really interesting that you should know. The size of a cell is
usually determined by its diameter and not by the length. The usual size of a typical
cell in human body can range anywhere between 10 µm and 100 µm (µm stands for
micron, which is 1 millionth of a meter or 1 thousandth of a millimeter).
8. The largest cell in human body is approximately 120 µm. It is the female
mature egg and the smallest cell in human body is the spermatozoon’s head with the
size of 5 µm.
FUN FACTS ABOUT CELLS
9. Though humans are made of Eukaryotic cells, there are are 200 different types of
cells in human body. Yes, Eukaryotic cells have variants.
10. Wondering what are the different types of cells that are present in our body? We
can come up with a few names like the nerve cells, bone cells, skin cells, egg cells,
etc. Come on, we cannot list all 200 here.
11. Bacteria are basically cells. But did you know that we carry around 3 to 5 pounds
of bacteria on our body. That much bacteria means, the number of bacteria we carry
on our body actually vastly outnumber the number of cells we have in our body. Still,
these bacteria only make up 3% of our entire body mass. That’s because, bacteria are
way smaller than our cells.
12. Talking about the bacteria outnumbering the number of cells in our body, the
question is, ‘how many cells do we have in our body? Don’t be surprised! It is 37.2
trillion!
13. Cells are the smallest life units on this planet. They are self-sustaining and they
are very much capable of replicating on their own through a process known as cell
division.
14. Do you have any idea of how much time human (and animals in general) cells take
to complete a cycle of birth and then division to form new cells? 24 hours to be exact.
Yes, a cell will take 24 hours to form and then divide to form new cells.
15. The red blood cells present in human body can live up to 120 days approximately.
But different types of
cells in human body have different lifespan. For example, neurons have the same
lifespan as that of the individuals while skin cells for instance can live only for a few
weeks.
16. Approximately 50 billion to 70 billion cells in human body die every single day.
Don’t worry! Remember cell division? You are smart! The commonest cells that die on
such large scale are blood cells, skin cells a few other types of cells which line up
glands and organs.
17. Heard the word ’tissue’? Well, tissues are formed by a number of cells. Again, a
number of tissues form an organ. A number of organs actually form a system.
18. We humans, when we take birth, we actually start off as a single cell. Later,
when we are born and when we grow up, we have 37.2 trillion cells. Now that’s
incredible! Guess what? That number doesn’t include the bacteria and microbes that
reside inside our body.
19. There are 23 pairs of chromosomes inside a single cell. That means, there are 46
chromosomes inside a single cell in human body! Imagine how tiny these chromosomes
need to be! These chromosomes are actually inside the nucleus of the cell.
FUN FACTS ABOUT CELLS
20. Apart from chromosomes, a single human cell actually contains a lot more things
than we think. There’s Endoplasmic Reticulum, Golgi
Apparatus, Mitochondria, Lysosomes, Microtubules, Microfilaments and Peroxisomes.
That’s quite a lot for a tiny cell!