PRACTICAL Name:

A moss plant

3 Looking at cells
You need:
■ microscopes ■ forceps
Leaf
■ razors or scalpels ■ onions
■ slides and coverslips ■ kidneys
■ Petri dishes ■ moss plants

Moss leaf cells

1 Use forceps to take one leaf off a moss plant. Put the leaf on a
slide, add a drop of water and lower a coverslip onto it.
2 Observe it under low, medium and high power. Identify as many
parts as you can. An onion cut in half
Brown outer
Onion cells scale leaf
3 If you look at half an onion, you will see that it is made of fleshy Inner fleshy
leaves. Use a razor to cut a small piece out of one of the leaves. food-storage
leaves
Use forceps to peel skin off the inner surface of the leaf. This
skin is a thin layer of living cells. Put the skin into a Petri dish
of water. It is important to cut a small piece of skin (less than
5 mm), as a larger piece will keep the curvature of the onion and
will not stay flat on a slide.
4 Put a drop of iodine stain onto a slide. Put a piece of onion skin
into the stain and smooth it out so there are no folds. Lower a
coverslip over it, taking care not to trap any bubbles. The bubbles
will look like perfectly circular car tyres. Prepare another slide in
the same way but using water instead of iodine stain. Skin pulled Forceps
from inner surface
5 Study the stained onion cells under different magnifications, of leaf
then look at unstained cells. What parts of the cells have become
stained? How are onion cells different from, and similar to, moss Transparent skin
leaf cells? from kidney surface

Animal cells
6 Use a razor and forceps to peel small pieces of transparent skin
off the outside of a kidney. Make a slide of the skin in water, and
Pig kidney
another in iodine.
7 Study stained and unstained cells. How are they different? Draw
moss leaf, onion and animal cells and list their similarities and
differences.

Your teacher will be looking for: HAZARD WARNING

■ careful and skilful use of the apparatus given
■ good observation of cell structure Scalpels or razors are sharp,
■ good presentation of results including drawings handle with care.

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