Plant Cell

Title: Basic Plant Cells

Purpose: The purpose of this lab is to
  1. To identify cell structures using the microscope.
  2. To apply a vital stain to living cells.
  3. To explain why vital stains are used   in Biology.
  4. To study the structure {and function} of plant organelles.

Materials:
  1. Microscopes
  2. Slides
  3. Lugols iodine
  4. Onion
  5. Coverslips
  6. Paper towels

Safety
  1. Don’t use coarse adjustment on high power.
  2. Be careful with Lugols iodine, it will stain you and your cloths.
  3. Carry microscopes with two hands.

Procedure:
  1. Prepare a wet mount of white onion cells as demonstrated in by your teacher.
  2. View this wet mount on low, medium, and high powers before applying stain.
  3. Apply Lugols iodine to your onion cell wet mount as demonstrated by your teacher.
  4. Make drawings of your stained cells, one under low power and one under medium power and one under high power.   Label the cell membrane, cell wall, cytoplasm, and nucleus.
Data: see attached drawing/chart/table/graph.

Questions
  1. Why is it necessary to stain onion cells?
It is necessary to stain the onion so you can see the cell more clearly.
  2. What stain is used on plants?
The stain that is used is the Lugols iodine.
  3. What is responsible for green appearance of the elodea cells?
The thing that is responsible for the green appearance is the chlorophyll
  4. What organelle was visible in the elodea cells but not visible in the onion cells?
The organelle that was visible in the elodea cells was the chloroplasts.
  5. Explain why the organelle was visible in the elodea cells only?
It was visible because we used iodine which made it clearer.
  6. What is the basic shape of a plant cell?   How does the shape differ from a typical animal cell?
The basic shape of a plant cell is a rectangle.   The shape differs because the plant cell has a rectangular shape and the animal cell has a circular...