Experiment 14 — Build a Plant Cell

Topic: Biology · Class 8 · Cell structure and functions

Aim: Assemble a plant cell with all its correct parts.

Daily: Every living thing you have ever eaten, petted or been is built of cells. A hen’s egg is a single cell you can hold; the ones in your body are far too small to see without a microscope.

Wall: Boundary: a plant cell has a rigid cell wall of cellulose outside the cell membrane, giving it shape and support. An animal cell has only the membrane.

Plastid: Chloroplasts: green plastids containing chlorophyll, where photosynthesis happens. Animal cells have none, which is why animals cannot make their own food.

Vac: Vacuole: a plant cell has one large central vacuole full of cell sap, which keeps the cell firm. Animal cells have only small ones.

Nuc: Nucleus: plant and animal cells both have a proper nucleus with a membrane — they are eukaryotic . Only bacteria lack one.

Question: Which structure is found in a plant cell but NOT in an animal cell?

Exp: The rigid cellulose wall outside the membrane is unique to plants (and some other groups).

Question: Chloroplasts are found in…

Exp: They contain chlorophyll for making food.

Question: A cell without a membrane-bound nucleus is called…

Exp: Bacteria are prokaryotes.

Question: The large central vacuole of a plant cell…

Exp: Loss of water from it makes a plant wilt.

Question: Who first observed cells, in cork?

Exp: In 1665, using an early microscope.