Name____________________________________________ Period_______

Viewing Plant Cells

Answer on a separate sheet of paper:
1. What is the function of chloroplasts?
2. Are all plant cells the same?
3. What are some organelles that you might see in the plant cells?
4. Do animal cells have chloroplast? Why or why not?
5. Why are we going to stain the onion specimen, but not the elodea specimen?

PART A - Onion Cells: Be careful staining with methylene blue. It stains you too!
Prepare a wet mount slide of onion cells as instructed using methylene blue. View under scanning, low
and high power. Sketch the cells at each magnification & fill in the magnification power used.
.
Scanning _____X

Low Power ______X

High Power ______X

Estimate the size of the cells by approximating how many cells it would take to cross
the field of view then divide the field of view by this number. Ms. Scolaro will give you
the field of view for each magnification. Answer: _______ mm

PART B - Elodea Cells:

Prepare a wet mount slide of an elodea (an aquatic plant).
Sketch the cells at each magnification. Look closely; you may see chloroplasts moving.
Scanning ______X
Low Power ______X
High Power ______X

Estimate the size of the cells as above. Answer:_______mm

Label your
sketches!
Chose from:
-- Cell Wall
-- Nucleus
-- Cytoplasm
-- Chloroplasts

Name____________________________________________ Period_______

Post Lab Questions Complete 2 8 on a separate attached sheet

1. Fill out the Venn Diagram below to show the differences and similarities between the onion

cells and the elodea cells.

ONION CELLS

ELODEA CELLS

2. Why were no chloroplasts found in the onion cells?

3. Which type of cell was smaller the onion cells or the elodea cells?
4. Which organelle gives the plant cell its form and shape?
5. Give a possible reason why organelles such as the nucleus and vacuoles were not visible in
Elodea.
6. How might Elodea be important to fish in a freshwater pond?
7. Explain why the chloroplasts are essential to life.
8. Did you observe chloroplasts appearing to flow in the cytoplasm of the Elodea cells? This is
known as cytoplasmic streaming. If you did show this in your drawings.
2 point Extra Credit stamp! Did you put the microscope away properly? Set
objective to scanning (4x) & wipe stage clean? Clean slides and cover slips with

Name____________________________________________ Period_______

paper towel? Lower the stage so its all the way down, swing the light filter
back in place, & turn the light off?

Teacher Notes
To explain how to estimate cell size:
1. Draw a circle on the white board.
2. Looking at an individual cell, estimate how many cells it would take lined up back-toback to cross the field of view.
3. Divide the field of view by your estimation of the number of cells that it would take to
cross the field of view. This is the size of your cell.
Put in the field of views for each magnification below:
Objective
4X
10X
40X
100X

Field of View
4.5mm
1.8mm
0.45mm
0.18mm