Plant and Animal Cells By: McNutt & Brown

Essential Questions What are the basic cell parts? What is the function of cell parts? How are the structures of the animal cell and plant cell similar? And different?

Vocabulary to know Cell Cell wall Cell membrane Nucleus Chloroplasts Cytoplasm

Did you know that you and oak trees are both made of cells? What is a cell you ask…??? A cell is a tiny part of a living thing. Your cells and the cells in oak trees are different from each other, but not as different as you think. A plant cell actually has more parts than an animal cell.

What is a cells “job”? Its job is to take in nutrients and get rid of waste.

What does a plant cell look like?

Do I have to know all of that? NO… You need to know: cell wall, cell membrane, nucleus, chloroplasts, and cytoplasm

What do all of those things do? As you can see in the diagram, a plant cell is surrounded by a cell wall. This is what protects the cell. The walls of a plant cell sticks to each other to give the plant its shape.

Cell Membrane Just inside the cell wall is the cell membrane. This thin membrane allows water and nutrients to pass into the cell. It allows wastes, including oxygen, to pass out of the cell. It also stops things from entering that could harm the cell.

Nucleus Near the center of the cell is the nucleus. The nucleus controls the cell’s growth. The plant’s genes are in the nucleus of its cells.

Chloroplasts The green chloroplasts in the cell produce food for the plant. The chloroplasts combine sunlight, water, and carbon dioxide from the air to produce sugars which in turn give the plant energy to grow.

Cytoplasm The rest of the plant cell is filled with cytoplasm. This is much like jelly. Much of the cell’s work takes place in the cytoplasm.

What about an animal cell? As you can see, animal cells have some of the same parts as plant cells.

They are very similar in the fact that they both have… Nucleus Cytoplasm And a cell membrane

How are they different? They do not have cell walls. This is actually an advantage. With no cell walls, animal cells can take different shapes. For example, animal cells can become nerve cells, muscle cells, blood cells, etc. Heart Cell Skin Cell

Animal cells do not have chloroplast This is not an advantage…as you know, animals cannot produce their own food. They must get energy from eating plants, and other animals. Therefore animals depend on plants, and animals that eat plants, to survive.

Does size matter??? No, but both plant and animal cells are very small (you cannot see them with out a microscope). Animal cells tend to be smaller than plant cells. Even though the largest plant cell is only about 100 micrometers wide. (A micrometer is 1/1,000,000 meter. WOW!! That’s tiny!!

So let’s review… Both kinds of cells contain cell membranes, cytoplasm, and a nucleus. A plant cell also contains chloroplast and a cell wall.

Which of these is NOT made of cells? Quiz Time! Which of these is NOT made of cells? a rock An ant Moss A stick

Which part is NOT found in an animal cell? Cytoplasm Cell wall Cell membrane Nucleus

Which statement is true? The nucleus gives the cell its shape. Plant cells are filled with jelly-like chloroplasts. An animal cell can become a bone cell. A plant cell can become a nerve cell.

Which statement is true? The cell wall allows materials to pass in and out of cells. Both plant and animal cells have a cell membrane. The genes for plant cells are in the cytoplasm. A plant cell produces food in its nucleus.