NOTES FOR TOPIC 6: CELLS

1 What is a cell?
All living things are composed of cells.
A cell is the basic unit of life. It is the smallest structural unit of living matter.
The smallest living thing is made up of one cell and is known as a unicellular organism. Bacterium
is an example of a unicellular organism (bacteria is the plural form).
Any unicellular organism exhibits the following characteristics of life: movement, growth,
respiration, adapt to changes and reproduction.
More complex living things are made up with many different types of cells and are known as
multicellular organisms. Examples include plants, fungi and animals (including humans).

1.1 cell structures

Inside the cell are many cell structures or organelles that perform specific functions. The diagrams
below shows the structures of animal and plant cells as seen under the electron microscope.

In primary school, you have already learnt about the nucleus, cytoplasm, chloroplast, cell membrane
and cell wall.
The other organelles in a cell include:
• Mitochondrion
• Vacuole (cell sap)
• Golgi apparatus
• Ribosomes
• Lysosomes
• Endoplasmic reticulum
For lower secondary science, you should know at least the vacuole and mitochondrion.

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Below is a Venn diagram to compare the structures of animal and plant cells.

Animal cell Plant cell

Here is a table that summarizes most of the cell structures:

organelle Function Found in

nucleus It controls all activities of the cell. Most plant and animal
It contains genes in DNA for the cell to reproduce. cells.
This genetic material is passed down to the next A cell cannot reproduce
generation when the cell reproduces. with a nucleus.
cytoplasm It is the jelly-like area between the nucleus and the Plant and animal cells
cell membrane, and is the site where most cell
activities occur.
cell It is a flexible, partially permeable envelope that Plant and animal cells
membrane surrounds the cell which controls substances
entering and exiting the cell.
cell wall It is a rigid outer layer which provides support to Plant cells only
the cell and gives the cell its shape.
chloroplast It is a green structure which contains chlorophyll Most plant cells that are
to enable the cell to undergo photosynthesis in the exposed to sunlight
presence of (sun)light.
vacuole It is a round sac in the cytoplasm which contains Plant cells as one large
water and food substances. central vacuole.
Animal cells as many small
vacuoles.
mitochondrion It is small bean-shaped structure in the cytoplasm Plant and animal cells
(plural: which release energy through respiration.
mitochondria)

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2 organisation of cells
In biology, we need to understand the idea of division of labour as applied to cells.
Division of labour: the breakdown of work into small and more specific tasks to allow an
organism to carry out its functions with maximum efficiency.
A cell has many different parts with each part carrying out a specific function so that the cell can
survive and perform normally when all the parts work together.
In multicellular organisms, there are many different types of cells, each having a specific function,
working together so that the organism can survive and function properly and efficiently.
The organization of cells in multicellular organisms is as follows:
• A group of cells working together to perform a specific function is called a tissue.
• Different types of tissues that work together to perform a function form an organ.
• Several organs with similar functions work together for a specialized purpose to form an
organ system.
• All the organ systems work together to enable the organism to function properly.

Examples:
Types of cells
A muscle cell in an animal has a specific function which is to contract (become
tighter) and relax to allow movement to occur.

Other cells include blood cells, bone cells,

brain cells etc.

Human bone cell

Note there are 2 types of blood cells you should know – the red blood cell and the white blood cell.

The function of the red blood cell is to transport oxygen

from the lungs to tissues in all parts of the body as well
as remove carbon dioxide in the reverse direction.
The red blood cell is an unusual cell because it has no
nucleus so that it has more space to transport substances.
This results in the cell having a biconcave shape.
Red blood cell

The white blood cell is to help fight off infections from viruses, bacteria
and other foreign objects to protect your body from diseases.

White blood cell

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Types of tissues
A group of muscle cells working together forms a muscle tissue which helps your body move by
contracting and relaxing. Other examples of tissues are nervous tissue and bone tissue.

Types of organs
The stomach is an organ whose function is to temporarily store food and digest it. The stomach is
made up of muscle tissue, nervous tissue, connective tissue and epithelial tissue.

Other organs in the human body include the brain, the lungs, the kidneys, small intestine, liver etc.

Types of organ system

The digestive system is a collection of several organs
such as the stomach, large and small intestines, each
with a specific purpose but all working together to
help the body digests food .

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Other systems in the human body
include the respiratory system, the
circulatory system, the nervous
system, the skeletal system, the
reproductive system etc.
The circulatory system is made up of
organs such as the heart and blood
vessels (arteries, capillaries and
veins).

All working together

All the organ systems work together to
enable the organism to function
properly.
For example, the digestive system
works with other organ systems to make
up the entire organism.
In summary, cells can be organized to
eventually form a multicellular
organism.
This shows the idea of division of
labour. In a multicellular organism,
different cells/tissues/organs/systems perform different functions but work together to ensure the
whole organism can carry out life functions efficiently and effectively.

The example below shows how the root hair cell can be organized to form part of a plant.

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Questions
1 Arrange the following structures from smallest to largest:
stomach, mitochondrion, muscle, stomach cell

2 From the following list, identify the organ(s) and the organelle(s).
heart, root, onion, kidney, chloroplast, bacterium, blood, nucleus, xylem

Organ(s):

Organelle(s):

3 The figure below shows a cell.

(a) State, giving a reason, if this is an animal cell or a plant cell.

(b) (i) Identify parts W, X, Y and Z.

(ii) State the functions of X and Z.

(iii) If a cell does not have part W, describe what happens in the cell.

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3 The microscope
Cells are very tiny structures. To view them, we need to use a microscope.
The following diagram shows a microscope with some of the key parts labelled.

The power of a microscope is based on its magnification. Most microscopes in the school labs have
magnification or magnifying power up to 400× (400 times the original size). This means something
that is 1 mm long will be seen as 400 mm or 40 cm long under the microscope.
The magnification of a microscope depends on the eyepiece (sometimes called the ocular lens) and
the objective lens. Usually the eyepiece has magnification 10× while the objective lens can range
from 4× to 10× to 40×.
The overall magnification is found by:
Overall magnification = magnification of eyepiece × magnification of objective lens

For example, if eyepiece is 10× and objective is 10×, then total magnification is 10 × 10 = 100×

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4 OSMOSIS & THE CELL
Osmosis is the movement of solvent (usually water) particles from a region of higher water
potential (or lower solution concentration) to a region of lower water potential (or higher solution
concentration) across a partially permeable membrane (semi-permeable membrane).
The end result of osmosis is that a concentrated solution becomes more dilute as water moves into
the concentrated solution.
Osmosis stops when the solutions on either side of the membrane reaches about the same water
potential or same solution concentration.

In the cell, the cell membrane is semi-permeable or partially permeable. It allows small molecules
like water molecule to pass through but not larger molecules like salt and sugar.
Note that the cell wall in plant cells are fully permeable to most molecules so it is not truly
considered a semi-permeable membrane.
What happens to cells when they are placed in solutions of different concentrations?

4.1 TOnicity
Three terms – hypertonic, hypotonic, and isotonic – are used to describe whether a solution will
cause water to move into or out of a cell:
Hypertonic solution
A solution is hypertonic to a cell if it has higher solute concentration than the cell. This means
the water potential is higher inside the cell than outside. If a cell is placed in a hypertonic solution,
there will be a net flow of water out of the cell, and the cell will lose volume.
When you forget to water a plant for a few days, the amount of water in the soil around the roots
will be very little so there is lower water potential in the soil than in the root cells. Water then leaves
the root cells through the cell membranes to enter the soil so the plant loses internal water pressure
and wilts.

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Hypotonic solution
A solution is hypotonic to the cell if it has lower solute concentration than the cell. This means
the water potential is higher outside the cell than inside. If a cell is placed in a hypotonic solution,
there will be a net flow of water into the cell, and the cell will gain volume.
When you immerse a slice of potato in distilled water for a few hours, the potato slice will swell up.
This is because the water potential of distilled water is higher than the water potential in the potato
so water enters the potato cells to make them become larger.

Isotonic solution
A solution is isotonic to the cell if it has the same solute concentration as the cell. This means the
water potential is the same inside and outside the cell. If a cell is placed in an isotonic solution, there
will be no net flow of water into or out of the cell, and the cell’s volume will remain the same.

4.2 animal cell versus plant cell

The following diagrams show what happens to red blood cells, which are animal cells, when placed
in different solutions. Observe that when too much water enters the cell, it can cause the cell to
rupture or burst.

The next series of diagrams show what happens to a plant cell when placed in different solutions.
Observe that the vacuole size decreases when water leaves the cell and enlarges when water enters
the cell. The cell wall prevents the cell from bursting.

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Consider what happens in the following situations.

(a) You are stranded on a small island with no fresh water

supply. You are very thirsty so you decided to drink
seawater. Instead, you die much faster. Why?
(Hint: Think of the water potential of the cells in your body
and compare it with seawater.)

(b) Why can’t a saltwater fish live in freshwater?

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