Name _________________________________________________
Period ___________
WHAT ARE THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN PLANT AND ANIMAL CELLS
Procedures for Slide Preparations:
1. Onion - Remove a piece of the thin layer of transparent epidermal tissue from the inner surface of a piece of onion.
Make a wet mount of a small piece of the epidermal tissue. Examine the onion tissue under low power. Remove the
slide from the microscope, stain with a drop of iodine and re-examine under low and high power.
* Draw 3 cells.
* Label: cell wall, nucleus, nucleolus, cytoplasm and cell membrane.
2. Potato – Slice a very thin piece of potato. Make a wet mount and stain with a drop of iodine. Examine under low
and high power. Notice the color change (when starch and iodine come together it turns a dark bluish/purple color).
* Draw three cells.
* Label: cell wall and leucoplasts.
3. Cheek – Gently scrape the inside of your cheek with a clean toothpick. Place one drop of water on a microscope
slide, carefully mix the scrapings and add a cover slip. Stain the cheek cells with methylene blue and examine under
low and high power.
* Draw 3 cells.
* Label: cell membrane, nucleus and cytoplasm.
4. Elodea – Remove a single leaf from an Elodea plant. Place it on a slide. Add a drop of water and a cover slip.
Observe and draw.
* Draw 3 cells.
* Label: cell wall, chloroplast, cytoplasm, cell membrane and vacuole.
5. Red pepper – Make a thin slice of red pepper. Prepare a wet mount slide and observe.
* Draw 4 -5 cells.
* Label: cell wall and chromoplasts.
6. Stomata – Remove a single leaf from a terrestrial plant (if available). Prepare a wet mount slide of the underside of
the leaf. Observe and draw.
* Draw 3 stomata.
* Label: guard cells, nucleus and stomatal opening
7. Blood – Place a drop of blood (if available) on a slide add a cover slip and observe.
* Draw 3 cells
8. Pond water – Place a drop of pond water on a slide and add a cover slip. Examine the slide looking for single
celled organisms (protists). Use your book to help you find out what you are looking at.
* Draw what you find
* Label what you find
Slide drawings
(Make sure to include magnifications)
1.
Onion
2.
_____X
4.
Elodea
5.
Blood
Red Pepper
_____X
8.
_____X
3.
Cheek
_____X
_____X
7.
Potato
Pond Water
_____X
_____X
6.
Stomata
_____X
Questions
You will want to refer to your cells colorings and textbook to answer the following questions
1.
Why do plant cells have cell walls and animal cells don’t?
2. Why do plant cells have large vacuoles and animal cells don’t?
3. Why do plant cells have chloroplasts and animal cells don’t?
4. Did all the cells you observe have a cell membrane?
Explain.
5. What is the function of the cell membrane?
6. What is found in leucoplasts of potato cells?
How do you know?
7. What is found in the chloroplasts of peppers?
8. Where are stomata located on plants?
9. What do stomata do for plants?
10. Now that we have looked at both plant cells and animal cells, name the main differences between plant and
animal cells?
a.
b.
c.
Helpful Tips for the Microscope Cell Lab





You can look at the slides in any order. You do not have to start at number 1.
Your animal cell and plant cell colorings will be extremely helpful in labeling and answering
questions.
You only need a small drop of the iodine or methylene blue (they will stain you or your clothes so be
careful)
- Iodine for the onion and potato
- Methylene blue for your cheek cells
Make sure your drawings are big enough to label individual cells.
There are multiple resources on my class webpage, which will help you draw and label the cells.
These are found under the Online resources, under the Intro biology tab,
1. Onion
- Try to peel off a thin layer of cells from the inside of the onion
- You may not be able to see the cells until after you have stained them with the iodine.
2. Potato
- Make sure you have a thin as slice as possible.
- You may not be able to see the cells until after you have stained them with the iodine.
- You can’t label leucoplasts until you know what they are.
3. Cheek
- You may not be able to see the cells until after you have stained them with the methylene blue.
- Look for the dark stained nucleus in every cheek cell.
4. Elodea
- Let me know if you want to put a salt solution on the Elodea and see what them in a hypertonic solution
5. Red pepper
- Make sure you have a thin as slice as possible.
- You can’t label chromoplasts until you know what they are.
6. Stomata
- Make sure you are looking at the underside of the leaf.
- You can also see them by looking at the prepared slides of leaf epidermis
- Your book shows you multiple pictures of stomata (pgs. 606, 636)
7. Blood
- Make sure to look at the prepared slides of blood
- NO, you cannot look at your own blood
- Your book shows you multiple pictures of blood (pgs. 204, 997-998)
8. Pond water
- Make sure to get some of the water towards the bottom of the jar (where the dirt and junk is)
- Look for things moving in the water at medium power.
- Sometimes the dimmer the light, the easier it is to see them
- There are some prepared slides of protists you can look at
- Chapter 19 in your book is all about protists. See if you can find and identify one of them