A Cell-A-Bration of LIfeBell work

Complete Engage Section on labkey question and

student predictions- how would plant and animal cells be different if you

looked at them under a microscope

Viewing Plant Cells• In the lab, we cut an onion and removed a tiny

portion of the inside where cells can be viewed. To make it easier to see the cells and the nucleus, a drop of iodine was placed on the slide. Normal onion cells are clear (or white) but the ones pictured are orange due to the iodine stain. Use these images to complete the lab.

• On the onion cells, the cell walls divide individual cells. Each orange dot you see is actually a nucleus. A single slide view on low power can show dozens of cells

Onion Cells – Low power (40x)

Onion Cells - Medium Power (100x)

Onion Cells - High Power (400x)

Elodea is a common aquarium plant.

Elodea - Scanning (40x)• The green dots you see are actually

chloroplasts. You can see them move throughout the cell - a phenomenon called "cytoplasmic streaming“.

• The nuclei of the plant cells here are difficult to see because the chloroplasts take up so much space in the cell. On the image below, the nucleus in two of the cells is seen as dark blobs in the center.

Elodea - Low (40x)

Elodea – Medium Power (100x)

Elodea - High Power (400x)

Animal cells

• This slide was made by gently scrapping the inside of the cheek with a toothpick and then rubbing the toothpick on the slide.• The cells were stained with

Methylene blue because they would be clear if they were not stained.

Cheek cells- low power (40X)

Cheek cells medium power (100X)