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Wednesday, May 11, 2016

Lab #9 – The Cell and its Organelles

Problem

How are plant cells and animal cells both similar and different?

Hypothesis




 Materials
I will supply: 2 zip-loc bags: inner bag = cell membrane
1 loose plastic bag: outer bag = cell wall
     Oil (cytoplasm)
     red beans, red and black beads (organelles)
     green beads (chloroplasts)
     clay or balloon (nucleus)
     water (vacuole)
Please bring: uncooked pasta, candy, uncooked rice, get creative! 

Procedure 
Step 1
Pour vegetable oil into one of your Ziploc bags until it’s about half full. The vegetable oil represents the cell’s cytoplasm.





Robinson Cartagena Lopez - RoCarLo/Demand Media
Step 2
Add a piece of cauliflower to the bag. This will be your nucleus.





Robinson Cartagena Lopez - RoCarLo/Demand Media
Step 3
Place three or four mandarin oranges as mitochondria and three or four green grapes as chloroplasts in the bag.





Robinson Cartagena Lopez - RoCarLo/Demand Media
Step 4
Pour water into a balloon until it is two or three times the size of your nucleus bouncy ball. Tie the end of the balloon and place it in the Ziploc. This will serve as the vacuole, a fluid-filled space within the cell.





Robinson Cartagena Lopez - RoCarLo/Demand Media
Step 5
Add several pieces of pipe cleaner as endoplasmic reticulum.





Robinson Cartagena Lopez - RoCarLo/Demand Media
Step 6
Add a piece of ribbon candy to represent the Golgi apparatus and a small marble for the centrosome.





Robinson Cartagena Lopez - RoCarLo/Demand Media
Step 7
Sprinkle in a small handful of sesame seeds. These will represent the cell’s ribosomes.





Robinson Cartagena Lopez - RoCarLo/Demand Media
Step 8
Add more vegetable oil to the bag, if needed, until it is fairly full but still has plenty of give. Close the bag.





Robinson Cartagena Lopez - RoCarLo/Demand Media
Step 9
Maneuver the organelles so they are spread throughout the bag. Make sure your centrisome and Golgi apparatus end up near the nucleus, as this is how they’re situated in a real cell.





Robinson Cartagena Lopez - RoCarLo/Demand Media
Step 10
Place the bag inside your second Ziploc bag. If it doesn’t fit easily, pour out oil until it does.





Robinson Cartagena Lopez - RoCarLo/Demand Media
Step 11
Drizzle a little bit of oil in the space between the two bags. This represents the cell membrane, a thin, semi-permeable membrane between the cell wall and the rest of the cell. Close up the second bag.
Don’t forget to label your Ziploc bags (Cell Membrane) for BOTH plant and animal cells.

Results

Animal Cell
Plant Cell



Analysis

  1. Compare/Contrast your plant and animal cells.


  1. Predict what would happen to a plant cell if it were to lose its chloroplasts.


  1. Explain the importance of the nucleus in both cells.


4.       On your gel cells, what is representing the cell membrane?  How is the cell membrane like your skin?
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5.       Create your own model of an animal and/or a plant cell.  What materials would you use?  Make a list of what is going to represent the following: cytoplasm, cell membrane, nucleus, organelles, cell wall, chloroplasts.

Conclusion