BIOLOGY 103
FALL, 2002
LAB 3
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| BIOLOGY 103 | |
Observations:
Fungi:uniform cells, 10.4 Micrometers in diameter, slightly oblong shape.
Small leaf: Jigsaw membrane: 39Micrometers, Stomatal: 26 Micrometers.
Large Leaf:Jigsaw membrane, Stomatal: 23.4 Micrometers
Earthworm: Non uniform cells: 13-15.6 Micrometers.
Human cartilage: Non Uniform: 10.4-13.0 Micrometers
Conclusion: We did not find a sepcific corrolation between size of organism and size of cell. We did however find that there was more variance in cell size the more complex the multi cellular organism.
Diana Fernandez, Amanda Maclay, Tegan Georges
Hypothesis: We think that diferent types of organisms have different types of cells.
Data:
Fungi cells: Long and stringy like spagetti, but not arranged in a cohesive pattern
Berry Cells: slightly elliptical with solid nuclei, kinda like fried eggs
Leaf Cells: circular, with jagged edges
Grass Cells: Rectangular/elliptical
Hair Cells: Long, stringy, ("hair-like" hehe...) cells that fit together in a set pattern
Eyelash Cells: Had similar structure as the hair, but had a deep, dark core that was continuous except for at the two ends. The edges had ragedy edges and the core was smooth
Earthworm Cells: Different shaped-sized cells, indicating different pars of the worm's body.
Human cartilagde: Elliptical roundish shape with possible nucleus inside.
Conclusion:
Yes, different organisms have different cells. Not only that, but diffrent parts of the organism are made up of different cells. Identification of a species/plant/organisms can be traced down to the most basic form, i.e., the cell. Because each organism's cells are so destinctive, identification can be based on those cells alone. This is cause for futher study.
In beginning to compare the size of cells with the size of their organism and then with each other, we hypothesized that the size of a cell would correspond with the kingdom of its organism. Therefore we predicted animal cells would be the largest whereas plant cells would be smaller. (In this stdy, we did not compare all five kingdoms, but just Animals and Plants.)
We looked at seven cells from a variety of sources such as a Paramecium, human thyroid, PSB courtyard planet bush, buttercup, and earthworms.
The following is our recorded observations of their size.
PSB courtyard planet bush
Organism sixe: 2.6 m approximately
Cell size: 26 micrometers
Paramecium
Organism size: +/- .5 milimeters
Cell size: 156 micrometers by 36.4 micrometers
Human thyroid
Organism size: 2-2.5 m approximately
Cell size: 85.8 micrometers
Blade of Grass
Organism Size: 114 mm approximately
Cell Sizes: 18.2 - 57.2 micrometers
Earthworm
Organism Size: 74 mm approximately
Cell Sizes: 10.4 - 182.0 micrometers
Buttercup Stem
Organism Size: 115 cm approximately
Cell Sizes: 15.6-26 micrometers
Corn Stalk
Organism Size: 3 m
Cell Sizes: 208-1040 micrometers
We were wrong (#5421 this week). Organisms don't just have one cell size but many different cells. The sizes aren't consistant within the organisms themselves, nor the different kingdoms. If we could look into this further, we might discover and define certain types of cells and find their size and how they correlate and compare that way.
In beginning to compare the size of cells with the size of their organism and then with each other, we hypothesized that the size of a cell would correspond with the kingdom of its organism. Therefore we predicted animal cells would be the largest whereas plant cells would be smaller. (In this stdy, we did not compare all five kingdoms, but just Animals and Plants.)
We looked at seven cells from a variety of sources such as a Paramecium, human thyroid, PSB courtyard planet bush, buttercup, and earthworms.
The following is our recorded observations of their size.
PSB courtyard planet bush
Organism sixe: 2.6 m approximately
Cell size: 26 micrometers
Paramecium
Organism size: +/- .5 milimeters
Cell size: 156 micrometers by 36.4 micrometers
Human thyroid
Organism size: 2-2.5 m approximately
Cell size: 85.8 micrometers
Blade of Grass
Organism Size: 114 mm approximately
Cell Sizes: 18.2 - 57.2 micrometers
Earthworm
Organism Size: 74 mm approximately
Cell Sizes: 10.4 - 182.0 micrometers
Buttercup Stem
Organism Size: 115 cm approximately
Cell Sizes: 15.6-26 micrometers
Corn Stalk
Organism Size: 3 m
Cell Sizes: 208-1040 micrometers
We were wrong (#5421 this week). Organisms don't just have one cell size but many different cells. The sizes aren't consistant within the organisms themselves, nor the different kingdoms. If we could look into this further, we might discover and define certain types of cells and find their size and how they correlate and compare that way.
In beginning to compare the size of cells with the size of their organism and then with each other, we hypothesized that the size of a cell would correspond with the kingdom of its organism. Therefore we predicted animal cells would be the largest whereas plant cells would be smaller. (In this stdy, we did not compare all five kingdoms, but just Animals and Plants.)
We looked at seven cells from a variety of sources such as a Paramecium, human thyroid, PSB courtyard planet bush, buttercup, and earthworms.
The following is our recorded observations of their size.
PSB courtyard planet bush
Organism sixe: 2.6 m approximately
Cell size: 26 micrometers
Paramecium
Organism size: +/- .5 milimeters
Cell size: 156 micrometers by 36.4 micrometers
Human thyroid
Organism size: 2-2.5 m approximately
Cell size: 85.8 micrometers
Blade of Grass
Organism Size: 114 mm approximately
Cell Sizes: 18.2 - 57.2 micrometers
Earthworm
Organism Size: 74 mm approximately
Cell Sizes: 10.4 - 182.0 micrometers
Buttercup Stem
Organism Size: 115 cm approximately
Cell Sizes: 15.6-26 micrometers
Corn Stalk
Organism Size: 3 m
Cell Sizes: 208-1040 micrometers
We were wrong (#5421 this week). Organisms don't just have one cell size but many different cells. The sizes aren't consistant within the organisms themselves, nor the different kingdoms. If we could look into this further, we might discover and define certain types of cells and find their size and how they correlate and compare that way.
We feel that maybe the size of the cell is perhaps determined by the function of the cell- otherwise our data should be more consistent to our first thoughts about cell size. Even within the samples we found, there were different size cells.
Heather, Christine, Margot
corn............10 ft...........................0.80 um
tree leaf.......20 ft...........................1.30 um
earthworm.......0.25 ft.........................1.04 um
elodea..........0.50 ft.........................0.68 um
moss............0.10 ft.........................2.58 um
hypothesis: There is a direct correlation between the size of the organiism and the size of the organism's cells.
Conclusion: Our hypothesis was disproven because we did not find a sizable correlation between the size of the five organisms and the size of their cells.
Our original hypothesis was that all cells would be of a comprable size, regardless of the size of the organism. However, our observations proved that our hypothesis was wrong. No only did cell size vary from plant to plant, but there were also cells of differing sizes within the same organism.
We observed five different samples: grass, a tree leaf, and clover from the courtyard, and an earthworm and moss from the prepared slides. For individual cell size, our measurements were as follows (in micrometers):
Moss (1 inch): from 10.4-78
Earthworm (8-10 inches): from 5.2-13
Clover (3 inches): from 5.2-26
Grass (6 inches): from 13-104
Tree leaf: (40ft tree): from 26-130
hypothesis: Cell size does not depend on organism size
observations:
moss- 52.0 mm
Elodea- 102 mm
cheeck- 78.0 mm
corn stalk- 67.6 mm
earthworm- 52 mm (LONGER cells)
13 mm ( small cells)
Conclusion: Size of the organism does not account for cell size, but all cells are not the same size. There are even different cell sizes within one organism.
Questions....
1. Does cell function determine cell size?
2. Was it human error that accounts for the differences we saw?
3. Is volume a better way to measure cells?
Joanna Robertson, Yarimee Gutierrez, Jennifer Rusk
The original hypothesis was that organism size depends on cell size, that bigger organisms will have bigger cells.
Results are as follows:
Elodea cell - 50 um
Plant from PC cell - varied from 7.8 to 28.6 um
Zea stem cell - varied from 7.8 to 117 um
Amoeba cell - 262.6 um
Paramecium - 65 um
Our conclusion is that cell size does not determine organism size. However, this hypothesis stands when used for single celled organisms alone. Our observation of plant cells demonstrated the various cell size within one organism. Due to the congregration of similar sized cells within multicellular organisms, we concluded that they have varying sized cells for various functions.
Hypothesis: The size of an organism will not always correlate to the size of its cells.
Data/Observations: Corn Stem Cell - length: 70um Moss Cell - length: 78 um Elodea Cell - length: 50um Ameoba Cell - length: 36.4um Hair Cell - length: 100um
Note: Many of these samples showed cells of varying sizes within the organism. We recorded, for our purposes, the length of what appeared to be a relatively represetative cell (except, of course, in the ameoba, which is a one-celled organism).
Conclusion: Our hypothesis still appears to work. Within each organism, cell size varied, and between organisms cell size also varied, although without any apparent correlation to size of organism. For example, a moss plant is smaller than an elodea plant, but our observations showed moss cells larger than elodea cells.
Lab Hypothesis: Bigger organisms have bigger cells.
Collected Data through use of microscope:
Corn Stem cell size range: 7.8 -143 micrometers
Clover flower petal cell (from planet courtyard): 13 micrometers
Earthworm (one of many cells): 18.2 micrometers
Elodia cell width: 26 micrometers
Elodia cell length: 61.8 micrometers
Erin's Cheek cell: 50 micrometers
Ameba proteus : 200 micrometers
Conclusion: Bigger organisms do not actually have bigger cells. Cell size varies from organism to organism not depending on the size of the organism.
human thyroid
length: 234 um
width: 78 um
area: 18252 um^2
mushroom
length: 156 um
width: 9.1 um
area: 1419.6 um^2
earthworm
length: 169 um
width: 31 um
area: 5239 um^2
clover leaf
length: 91 um
width: 31 um
area: 2821 um^2
moss
length: 174 um
width: 52 um
area: 9048 um^2
(obviously, the area calculated is only a rough estimate not account for the irregular shape of the cells)
areas (ranked by size, largest to smallest):
human thyroid (18252), moss (9048), worm (5239), clover (2821), mushroom (1419).
The cells we measured are only single examples of a cell in each organism. The size of cells within a single organism vary greatly.
According to our data, there is no parallel between the size of the cells and the size of the organism. Our hypothesis is therefore incorrect.
Our hypothesis was that cell size relates directly to plant or animal size. We found, however, that just because a plant or animal is large is doesn't necessarily mean the cells of that living organism are large as well. Our evidence for this new idea is as follows:
Corn stem cells, from a corn stem, which as we all know is quite a large plant, were found to have cells about 90 micrometers across.
The Water Plant cells were between 50 and 100 micrometers. The water plants found in the lab are as big as that particular plant grows.
Buttercup stem cells were found to be between 50 and 70 micrometers. As we all know, buttercups are plants the size of redwoods, and are found in only select parts of Maine and New Hampshire. NO! This is actually a lie. Buttercups are small flowering plants found throughout the world. SMALL is the point we need to make here.
Moss (Mature Archegonium) was found to have cells roughly 125 micrometers in size. Think about moss. Think about size. Moss is small.
We also looked at a sample of cells from Ja Ja's mouth. As we all know, she is a large animal, being human. The cells were found to be from 50 to 120 micrometers in diameter.
From these samples we have determined that although there are many different sized plants and animals in the world, they do not all have different sized cells. Just because a plant may be larger than another plant does not mean its cells are larger than those in other plants. It would make sense that this is true, because if a plant had very large cells I would think the plant would be brittle, as the cell wall would have to be very large and tough to support a large plant. It makes more sense to build a large building with smaller, stronger bricks than with larger bricks. As Woo Woo just said, it's more the TYPE of cells.
We hope we have not offended anyone with our findings. Can we go home now?
ps tobacco looks nasty under a microscope. so does bleached hair. ...excellent...
For this lab we looked at different cell specimens and determined the average cell size for each specimen.
Hypothesis: The larger the organism is in real life the larger its cells.
Methods: For this experiment we used a simple microscope to determine cell structure and cell size for 5 different specimens, 4 of which had been previously prepared and one specimen for which we prepared the slide.
The general method we followed was to adjust the slide under the microscope under various lenses (usually using the highest powered lens) and moving the stage till the cell was at its best focus. Then we went on to measure its size using the ruler inside the lens. We looked at three different cell sizes for each specimen and then took the average of all the three measurements that we determined.
Observations:
Specimen 1:
HB 7-12, Hyaline Cartilage
1) 13x2.6 =33.8micrometer
2) 15x2.6 =39micrometer
3) 12x2.6 =31.2 micrometer
Avg. size =34.67micrometer
Roundish/Elliptical in shape
Specimen 2:
Elodea (plant)
1) 40x2.6 =104micrometer
2) 42x2.6 =109.2 micrometer
3) 39x2.6 =101.4micrometer
Avg.size =104.87micrometer
Rectangular in shape with rounded edges, lots of chloroplasts inside.
Specimen 3:
Lumbricus X-Section
1) 4x2.6 =10.4micrometer
2) 5x2.6 =13micrometer
3) 3x2.6 =7.8micrometer
Avg.size =10.4micrometer
Elliptical purple cells and roundish green cells could be seen.
Specimen 4:
Zea Stem C.S.
1) 43x2.6 =111.8micrometer
2) 59x2.6 =153.4micrometer
3) 46x2.6 =119.6micrometer
Avg.size =128.27micrometer
Different cells could be seen but the one examined and measured is a transport cell from the vascular tissues.The cell is big and unevenly shaped.
Specimen 5:
Cheek cells
1)77micrometer
2)76micrometer
3)78micrometer
Avg.size = 77micrometer
roundish in appearance.
Conclusion: We are happy to say that our hypothesis is wrong (yay!). Larger organisms do not necessarily have larger cells than smaller organisms.
Hypothesis: The size of an individual cell is directly related to the size of the complete organism.
Earthworm--> 5.2 micrometers (ums)
Moss--> 130 mircometers (ums) (we also saw smaller cells, but could not measure them)
Elodea--> 85.8 mircometers (ums)
Dried Tobacco--> 33.8 micrometers (ums)
Mare's skin--> 65 micrometers (ums)
An individual moss is about 5 cm long compared to an elodea branch which is about 10 cm long. The cells of these two organisms are 130 ums and 85.8, respectively. A human epidermis covers a person who is about 5'4", with a cell size of 65 ums, in comparision with tobacco (dried) that has a cell of 33.8 ums. Finally, the earthworm can grow up to 20 cm long, and its cells are only at the size of 5.2 ums.
In conclusion, the size of an individual cell is not directly related to the size of the complete organism. Also, different parts of the same organism can have different sized cells (as seen in the moss cells)
