Reply to comment

Kyree Harmon

Kerlyne Jean

We believe that the larger the organism, the larger the cells that compose it. To test this, we collected 5 cell specimen, 3 plants and 2 animals. For each sample, we measured the largest cell and the smallest cell. The first sample was from Coleus. Its smallest cell was 5.2 microns and its largest was 31.2. Next we used Buttercup Root whose smallest cell was about 7.8 microns and largest was about 78. Then we observed the Pine Stem with a range of 13 microns to 52 microns. The first animal specimen was from a pig, whose smallest cells were about 2.6 microns and largest were 5.2. The last specimen that we observed was from Kerlyne's mouth and the cells there ranged from 2.6 to 5.2 microns. Based on our observations, we see somewhat of a correlation in our plant group. For the plant specimens, the larger the plant, the larger the smallest cells were. There was an upward trend for the largest cells, but they were not ordered. For the animal samples, both animals' cells were about the same size. More animals would have to be tested in order to make more accurate summaries concerning the size of the animal cells. However, our plant data seemingly supports our hypothesis. The difference in larger cell size can be attributed to cell growth and development and/or human error. It is still important to note that within each organism, there is a great variety of cell size and many more observations should be made and summarized.