Finding Cells: Plant (Onion) vs.

Human cell (cheek cell)

Barcoma, Othniel

Lecosta, Nerio Cris

Monces, Brent Dominic

Sinfuego, Dale Christopher

Tayaban, Jeziel

Fabros, Andrea Jimaikah

Taborda, Marjorie

ABSTRACT

(wala pa tayong abstract)

I. INTRODUCTION

During the 1590's Zacharias Jansen and his father were the first to build a compound
microscope. However the magnification is only around nine times and is blurry ("History of
the microscope",n.d.).The microscope then improved when Robert Hooke made his own
version of the device. His work then influenced Anton Van Leeuwenhoek and other scientists
which lead to the improvement of the microscope (Chua, Deauillo, & Rea, 2017).
Through the many discoveries of the microscope, we have discovered that all living things
are made up of cells (Chua et al., 2017). It is important to learn them because we can apply
these in the fields of medicine, biotechnology, and the like. Online Sciences (n.d.) claims that
this device is the backbone of biology.

II. MATERIALS
 Microscope (with 40X, 100X, and 400X magnification)
 Microscope Slides
 Cover slips
 Medicine Dropper
 Iodine Stain
 Cheek cells
 Toothpick
 Methylene Blue Stain
 Onion skin
 Water

III. METHODS

For the Onion Skin Cell

  Peel off a small section of onion skin.
 Place the onion skin in the center of the slide.
 Place the two drops of water on the onion skin. This is called a “wet mount”.
 Starting at one edge, gently lower a cover slip over the onion skin.
 Gently tap the slide to remove air bubbles.
 Place a drop of Iodine at one edge of the cover slip.
 Place the slide on the stage under low power. Use the coarse adjustment knob to focus.
 Rotate the nosepiece to medium power. Use the fine adjustment knob to focus. Observe
what you see.
 Repeat step 8, but this time switch to high power and draw what see
 After you draw your diagrams, rotate the nosepiece back to low power. Remove the slide
and dispose of the piece of onion, and wash the slide and cover slip.

For the Cheek Cell

 Take a clean toothpick and gently scrape the inside of your cheek.
 Prepare a wet mount like in steps 2-6. Instead, use the methylene blue solution as the
dye.

IV. RESULTS

V. DISCUSSION
Questions:

1. What is the function of the chloroplast in plant cell? Why is it absent in animal cells?

A chloroplast is a type of plant cell organelle known as plastid. Plastid assist in

storing and harvesting needed substances for energy production. It is the sites of
photosynthesis in a plant cell. It is absent in animal cells because they only have cell
membrane and they are dependent on either plants or on other organisms for food.

2. What does the cell wall serve in a plant cell?

Cell wall is the outer covering of the cell that protects that plant cell and it gives
shape. It acts as a gatekeeper, because it determines what can come in and out of the cell
in order to keep the cell protected.

3. Are animal cells and plant cells eukaryotic or prokaryotic? Why do you say so?

Animal cells are eukaryotic cells or cells that contain a membrane-bound nucleus.

4. What structures (organelles) do both plant and animal cells have in common?
 They have both plasma membrane, cytoplasm, a nucleus, ribosomes,
mitochondria, peroxisomes and in some vacuoles. They also have a microtubule
organizing centers (MTOCs).

5. What structures (organelles) do both plant cells have that animal cells do not have?

Plant cells have a cell wall, chloroplasts, and other specialized plastids, and a large
central vacuole, which are not found within animal cells. The cell wall is a rigid covering
that protects the cell, provides structural support, and gives shape to the cell. The
chloroplasts, found in plant cells, contain a green pigment called chlorophyll, which
captures the light energy that drives the reaction of plant photosynthesis. The central
vacuole plays a keyrole in regulating a plant cell’s concentration of water in changing
environmental conditions.

6. Compare the size and shape of plant and animal cells.

Animal cells are smaller than the plant cell, and they all had a round shape.

7. Compare the size of plant and animal cells to that of bacteria cells.

8. Are bacterial cells eukaryotic or prokaryotic? Explain your answer.

Bacteria are prokaryotic cells, which are characterized by a lack of a membrane-

bound nucleus. They are typically simpler than eukaryotic cells, which have a membrane-
bound nucleus and organelles responsible for cell function.

VI. CONCLUSION

VII. GENERALIZATION
VIII. REFERENCES

http://www.history-of-the-microscope.org/history-of-the-microscope-who-invented-the-
microscope.php

http://www.online-sciences.com/technology/what-are-uses-and-importance-of-
microscopes/

Chua, J.L.C., Dequillo, M.Z.M., Rea, M.A.D., (2017)

https://www.thoughtco.com/cell-wall-373613

https://schoolworkhelper.net/plant-animal-cells-staining-lab-answers/

http://sciencing.com/three-plant-cell-animal-cell-6671558.html