THE CELL CITY

1. Nucleus = City Hall: they are both the controlling forces in the cell/city.

2. Cytoplasm = Atmosphere: the main substance of the city/cell that takes up all the
space. It surrounds the buildings/organelles.

3. Cell Membrane = Police Officers: they both control what goes in and out of the
cell/city. They also both protect and support what is inside.

4. Nuclear Envelope = City Hall Fence with Security Guard: they both protect the
control center, by allowing materials in and out.

5. Nucleolus = Office in City Hall : they are both an area that all the main information
is stored.

6. Ribosomes = Food-Producing Factories: both bring together raw materials. They

preform proteins synthesis for the nucleus.

7. Rough Endoplasmic Reticulum = Streets: In the city cars travel around using the
streets, ribosomes travel by the Rough ER.

8.Smooth Endoplasmic Reticulum = Manufacturing Plant: They both make proteins

and fats. They are then packaged and sent off.

9. Golgi Apparatus = Post Office: They are sorted, then packaged and distributed
around the cell, just like a post office would do with mail.

10. Lysosomes = Garbage Disposal: breaks down wastes and extra materials by
disposing them.

11. Vacuoles = Warehouse: both store items and substances.

12. Peroxisomes = Street Cleaners/ Garbage Men: both work to keep the city/cell
clean.

13. Centriole = Household (parent and child): where informationion is passed from
parent to offspring.

14. Cilia = Airport: transport cells/people around from place to place

15. Mitochondria = Power Plant: produce energy to give power to the city/cell.

16. Chloroplast = Solar Energy Plants: both capture energy from the sun.

17. Cell Wall = City Wall: they are both the supporting structures of the cell/the city.

18. Cytoskeleton = Steel Girders: The cytoskeleton is the internal framework that
gives each cell its distinctive shape. The structural steel beams are the support for
the buildings or bridges.
In the past, many cities had walls surrounding them to provide structure to the city
limits, and so that only people with permission could enter. In that way, they worked
both like a cell wall providing a rigid boundary to a plant cell, and like a plasma
membrane that only allows materials in with the correct chemical signal. City hall
serves as a city’s headquarters, where laws are made and where historical records
are often kept. The nucleus serves as a cell’s headquarters, where it stores genetic
information in the form of DNA.

Many cities have industrial districts, where most of the factories cluster together.
In a cell, the equivalent of an industrial district is the rough endoplasmic reticulum,
home to the many ribosomes that assemble proteins. A city’s power plant serves as
its energy manufacturer, converting a fuel like coal or gas into electricity.
Mitochondria does the same thing in a cell, but it converts glucose into ATP. A post
office stores all the city’s outgoing mail until delivery, like the Golgi apparatus in a
cell. Visitors to the city might leave their cars in parking lots while they visit
different sites. The parking lots provide storage for those cars like vacuoles do for
materials in cells.