INVESTIGATING HUMAN CHEEK CELLS
Name(s): ________________________________________________________________
1.
Using all that you have learned about using a microscope, complete the following activity.
2.
Prepare a wet mount of some cheek cells taken from the inside surface of your cheek. To collect the
cells, lightly scrap the inside of your cheek with a toothpick and add the material collected to the slide.
3.
Go to your teacher and have him put some methylene blue stain on your slide.
4.
Complete the wet mount by covering your tissue sample with the cover slip.
5.
Make sure the diaphragm wheel is set to #1 for this investigation. Focus in low power then scan around
looking for patches of tissue or cells. In low power, they look like little flakes. Once found, observe the
cheek cells starting with low power then carefully increasing the magnification one objective at a time
until you get to HIGH power.
6.
Draw what one cheek cell looks like under HIGH power in the space below. Make sure you draw it to
scale with the circle being the diameter of your field of view. In other words, DRAW IT AS YOU
SEE IT. The circle below is THE FIELD OF VIEW. Draw it the size it appears in the field of view!
SIZE OF FIELD
low
med
high
7.
ESTIMATE the size of ONE cheek cell in MILLIMETERS: ______________
8.
Label the cytoplasm, nucleus and cell membrane (you should be able to see all these) in your diagram
above.
Using the VIRTUAL MICROSCOPE to complete this lab:
Instructions:
1. Use the “Virtual Microscope” link on Mr. P’s website or go to:
http://www.mrphome.net/mrp/Virtual_Microscope.html
2. Follow the instructions on the webpage there – WHEN COMLETING THIS LAB, OF THE FOUR SLIDES,
YOU MUST USE THE CHEEK SMEAR SLIDE.
3. NOTE: The virtual microscope has 4 objective lens’. You must complete this lab using the 40x power NOT
the 100x power! The 40x is the maximum power for the microscopes we have in the classroom.
4. NOTE: The measured field of view sizes are:
Low = 4mm
Med = 2mm
High = 0.5 mm