Cell: The Basic Unit of Life Story Notes

Introduction and What is A Cell? Everything is composed of living cells. Cells are chemical factories that use energy from food, take in raw materials, produce and exchange gases, grow, need water, eliminate waste materials, and reproduce themselves.

Prokaryotic Cells Prokaryotic cells are those without a nucleus that live alone as single celled organisms. Bacteria are single celled organisms from the kingdom Monera. Bacteria are filled with cell liquid, cytoplasm, but don’t have organized internal structures. Some bacteria get energy by producing their own food through photosynthesis. Others take and soak up chemicals from the environment. Prokaryotic cells have cytoplasm, cell membrane, cell wall (some), and ribosomes.

A Cell With A Nucleus Eukaryotic cells have organized structures inside the cell including a cell nucleus which directs the activities of the cell. Organelles, the organized structures inside the cell, have specific jobs to perform. The structures inside are the nucleus, chloroplast, mitochondrion, cell wall (some), cytoplasm, cell membrane, endoplasmic reticulum, ribosomes, and vacuoles. Protista live in water but are more complex and bigger than bacteria. Plant, animals, and all other cells except bacteria are eukaryotic cells.

Cells Invade the Land and Aquatic Life on Dry Land To keep cells alive, organisms that live out of water have ways to keep their cells wet. The cell wall helps to hold water inside the cell. The water supply is refreshed by drinking liquids and eating foods that contain water. Life can be considered aquatic because life happens in our cells. All cells are aquatic and are in constant contact with our blood.

CELLS Prokaryotic Cells- cells without a nucleus that live as single celled organisms Bacteria are prokaryotic Eukaryotic Cells- have a nucleus and other organized structures Plants, animals, and all other cells besides bacteria are eukaryotic

All life is considered aquatic because life happens in cells and all cells need water to survive.

Vocabulary Cytoplasm- liquid all cells are filled with Photosynthesis- process of producing own food Monera- bacteria are single celled organisms from this kingdom Protista- live in water, but are more complex and bigger than bacteria

Cell Wall- helps hold water inside the cell Nucleus- the “brain” of the cell Mitochondria- place where energy production occurs

The only parts that are in both prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells are cell membrane, cytoplasm, and ribosomes.