First Year Science

Cells and Microscope

 Cells
Cells: Building blocks of life

• Uni-cellular: organisms made of 1 cell

• Multi-cellular: organisms made of

many cells
 What is a cell made of?
• Plant and animal cells are different, but they
share 3 main structures

3 main parts to all cells:

1. Cell membrane
2. Nucleus
3. Cytoplasm
The Cell: a living factory
 The Cell: a living factory

Nucleus: the control centre of the cell

• Contains genes that control inherited

characteristics
Nucleus
Office & boardroom
 The Cell: a living factory

Cell membrane: a thin layer surrounding

the cell
• Controls what comes in and out of the cell
Wall and gates

Cell
membrane
 The Cell: a living factory
Cytoplasm: a watery fluid between the
nucleus and the cell membrane

• Where reactions take place

• Gives structure to the cell

Factory floor

Cytoplasm
 Plant Cell
PLANT CELL Onion Cells

Cell
membrane

Cytoplasm

Nucleus Cell wall

 Animal Cell

ANIMAL CELL Cheek Cells

 Rugby players are different
shapes & sizes. Why?

They do different jobs Cells are also different

for the team. shapes & sizes because
they perform different
jobs.
Different cell types
 How is the body organised?
tissue organ
cell

Tissue: group of similar cells which carry out

the same function. Eg: muscle

Organ: A structure containing 2 or more

tissues working together. Example: Stomach
 How is the body organised?
tissue organ
cell

system
System: A number
of organs working
together. Example:
Digestive system
 How does an organism create new
cells?
3 main reasons to produce new cells
1. Growth
2. Repair
3. Reproduction
• How? CELL DIVISION
Cell Division
 Microscope
• Pass light through thin slice of an object

• Use lenses to MAGNIFY this

• FOCUS = the opposite of blurred

Microscope Slides

Cover slips

Prepared slides
 How to use the microscope
1. Handle edges of slides….no fingerprints!

2. Start on the lowest magnification

3. Coarse focus knob: move stage up as far as possible

4. Place slide under the clips on the stage

5. Look through the eyepiece while SLOWLY lowering
the stage using the coarse focus knob.

6. Eventually the image will FOCUS

7. Use fine focus knob to improve focus
 Look at some sample slides

• Can you identify the parts of the cell?

PLANT CELL ANIMAL CELL

• Is it an animal or a plant cell?
Parts of the microscope
• Eyepiece lens: what
you look through
• Coarse focus: brings
an object into rough
focus
• Fine focus: precise
focussing
• Objective lens:
changeable with
different strengths
 How to use the microscope
1. Move stage up to top with the coarse focus knob

2. Place slide under the clips on the stage

3. Look through the eyepiece while SLOWLY

turning the coarse focus knob.

4. Eventually the image will FOCUS

5. Use fine focus knob to improve focus

Magnification = Eyepiece lens x Objective lens

 Preparing onion cells
• Watch this movie clip
• Important points:
– Make sure the layer of onion is not folded over
– Lower the coverslip slowly and at an angle
– Don’t press on coverslip
– Hold slide and coverslip by the edges….no
fingerprints!
 Equipment
•
• Forceps
• Onion layer prepared by teacher
• Microscope slide
• Cover slip
• Iodine solution
• Tissue paper
• Microscope
• Notebook
• Pencil
Eraser
What to do
1. Put onion tissue on slide
2. Put a few drops of iodine
on top of onion
3. Lower cover slip slowly & at
angle
4. View slide under
microscope
5. DRAW what you see
6. Label parts of cell seen
 Important points
• Make sure the layer of onion is not folder over
• Lower the coverslip slowly and at an angle
• Hold slide and coverslip by the edges….no
fingerprints!