Study of Cell Lab Without Motic
Study of Cell Lab Without Motic
Study of Cell Lab Without Motic
Introduction:
The cell is the basic unit of life and the individual part of which the whole organism is composed. Many
of the substances in a cell are organized into specific organelles. In this investigation you will be able to see
some of these organelles as they exist in animal and plant cells.
When Robert Hooke first observed cells almost 400 years ago, he saw only the cell walls of what were
once living cells that came from cork tissue. You may not know it, but the cork that is used in bottles and to
make bulletin boards does come from a species of tree. However, what you see are the compressed remains of
cells, which is a good example of how strong cell walls are. Even in a “dead” state, they remain for years before
they decompose.
Obtain a section of an onion from me. This specimen is interesting because it is only one cell layer
thick, and is transparent. Apply a single drop of IODINE to the specimen and apply a coverslip according to the
procedure discussed in class. The iodine is absorbed by the cell to make certain structures more visible.
(CAUTION: Avoid wrinkling the tissue. Doing so will cause the cell layers to “accordion” on top of one
another). The iodine should make the cell wall and cell membrane visible. The nucleus is the auburn
structure and the nucleolus is visible inside the nucleus.
Find a good section of cells with the LOW power lens (the red
4X one). Move up to the mid power lens, and refocus. Draw a group
of cells as they appear under 100X. Label the cell wall, and
nucleus. Estimate the size range of cells by determining the size of
them smallest cell and size of the largest cell
CONCLUSION:
This lab demonstrated, through direct observation, that living things are composed of smaller units not
visible to the naked eye. It also allowed you to see how the compound microscope is used to see the detail of
these smaller units called cells.
You learned how to apply the micron as a unit of measurement, and how to measure the size of cells;
noting that not all cells are the same size. In addition, cell shape varies greatly and these four specimens only
show a fraction of this variety.
Finally, you should be aware that although the compound microscope can offer a glimpse into the
microworld, we have much more powerful, electron microscopes that provide scientists with much more detail.
These details provide an in depth study of structure and function of living things as well as non living things
which may affect your life in ways you are completely unaware of.