Eddy Egan November 20, 2006

Tuliszewski Period ½
Section Assessment Page 172
1. What three statements describe the cell theory?
- All living things are composed of cells, Cells are the basic units of structure and
function in living things, and new cells are produced from existing cells.

2. What are the differences between prokaryotic cells and eukaryotic cells?
- Prokaryotic cells have genetic material that is not contained in a nucleus.
Eukaryotic cells contain a nucleus in which their genetic material is separated
from the rest of the cell.

3. Compare the processes used to produce a TEM and an SEM.

- Transmission electron microscopes explore cell structures because beams of
electrons pass through the thin slices of specimen. Scanning Electron Microscopes
scan over the outside of a specimen giving you a 3D image of the object but must
have objects that are in a vacuum, preserved and nonliving.

4. What structure do all cells have?

- They are surrounded by a barrier called a cell membrane and at some point in their
life time they contain the molecule that carries biological information - DNA

5. How did the invention of the microscope help the development of the cell theory?
- Microscopes observe things at a microscopic scale. Robert Hooke examined a cork
under a microscope and saw many chambers that seemed to be empty, he named these
cells. Soon after many people tried to copy/build off of his ideas and looked under the
microscope, when doing this they all saw cells in different objects thus making the
cell theory grow and grow. Without the microscope a lot of the valuable information
we have today would not exist and breakthroughs in science could not take place.