Melanie Yoc

October 24, 2014

Biology
John Horton
Lab Report: Cell Lab

Although it is said that a human is made up of trillions of cells, Bryson noted It starts
with a single cell. The first cell splits to become two and the two become four and so on.
(Bryson 371). For example, a brain cell can start as one and then split to become more and more
brain cells. By the time youre in adult you have about one-hundred billion brain cells. In our cell
lab we came to realize there are so many cells, and that everyone and every living thing is made
of cells. During our lab we looked at two types of cells, a plant cell and an animal cell. The
purpose of this lab was to find any differences and similarities an animal and plant cell might
have. We also tried to understand the function and structure each individual cell had. To find
these observations we looked at different cells and saw them under a microscope. The question
for our lab was why do differences exist within plant cells and animal cells? Our hypothesis
was if plant and animal cells have different functions then each cell must work differently due to
the different structures and functions. The lab we did was to compare, and analyze the different
functions and structures within the two type of cells.
The materials we used for our lab were:

Microscopes
Iodine
Glass Slides
Cover Slips
Pipette
Red Onion
Elodea Life

 Plant and Animal Cells

Toothpick
Prepared animal cell slides
The method we used to see a cheek cell :
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Place a drop of iodine on a glass slide

Rub a toothpick on the inside of the cheek
Rub the toothpick on the glass slide with the iodine on it
Place a coverslip over the iodine
Look at the iodine with the cheek cells under the microscope in

100x.
The method we used to see a red onion :
1. With a tweezer pull away a small a thin layer of epidermis from the
inner surface.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Place epidermis (membrane) on microscope slide

Add drop of iodine stain on top of the membrane
Place coverslip over the slide
Look at the slide under the microscope under 100x and 400x.

In conclusion our hypothesis was correct. We found out that animal and plant cells have
similarities and differences. Some similarities we found between the plant and an animal cell was
that they both a nucleus which stores DNA. A difference between an animal and plant cell is that
an animal cell has axons, they are structures found in the brain, a plant cell wont need it. Also
only the plant cell has chloroplast, chloroplast is the site of photosynthesis. Animals dont need

photosynthesis for energy and to grow. My hypothesis was correct, when I saw the cells under
the microscopes they had different structures and functions, like I noticed that only the plant cell
had a cell wall. For further experiments we can make a lab for cancer cells, or a lab about
embryonic stem cells. At the end we did find the differences and similarities.