COMPARING PLANT AND ANIMAL CELLS
BIO H
Problem:
How are plant and animal cells alike, and how are they different?
Materials:
Elodea leaf, glass slide, coverslip, microscope, water and dropper, methylene blue
solution, toothpick, onion
Procedure:
CAUTION: DO NOT START DRAWING ANYTHING UNTIL YOU TEACHER HAS
OBSERVED YOUR MICROSOPE AND SLIDE FIRST
I.
Plant cells
A. Elodea
1. Select a single leaf and place it on a drop of water on a slide. Place a
coverslip over it
2. Observe and draw what you see under low power
3. Turn to high power and draw A SINGLE CELL
4. On the cell drawn under high power, label the following:
Cell wall
Chloroplast
Vacuole
B. Onion cell
1. Take a thin layer off of the onion and place it on a slide.
2. Add a drop of methylene blue stain and cover with a coverslip.
3. Observe and draw what you see under low power.
4. Turn to high power and draw A SINGLE CELL
5. On the cell drawn under high power, label the following:
Cell wall
Nucleus
II.
Animal cell: Cheek
1. Take a toothpick and scrape the inside of your cheek several times to
scrape off some cells
2. Smear it on the slide.
3. Add 1 drop of methylene blue and cover with a coverslip.
4. Observe and draw what you see under low power.
5. Turn to high power and draw A SINGLE CELL
6. On the cell drawn under high power, label the following:
Nucleus
Cell membrane
Cytoplasm
Observations (50pts):
Submit your drawings attached to your lab report
Conclusions
1. Compare the structure of the different cells. Include their shape, the structures they
have, how they are alike and how they are different. (20 pts)
2. Why can’t we see other organelles like the endoplasmic reticulum, Golgi apparatus
and lysosomes? (10 pts)
3. What is the purpose of staining the onion cells and the cheek cells? (10 pts)
4. How come you did not see chloroplasts in the onion cells? (Hint: where are onions?)
(10 pts)
5. If you were given an unknown sample of cells to examine, how would you identify
the cells as either plant or animal? (10 pts)