Topic 3 | Cells — the basic units of life ewbk-4057

Preparing a stained wet mount

Name: Rabbi.................................................................................................. Class: ................................ Date: ....................................

Jumbled steps
1. The following diagrams show the jumbled steps used to prepare a wet mount of onion epidermis. Place the
code letters in the correct sequence.

A. Lower a coverslip B. Peel a section of C. Soak up excess D. Add a drop of E. Place onion
over the onion onion epidermis. water with a water to a skin in drop of
skin and water tissue. microscope water on the
droplet. slide. slide.

Correct sequence: B, D, E, A, C..................................

Staining cells
2. It is much easier to see the internal structure of cells when staining the tissue. The following materials are
available to prepare a stained wet mount of onion epidermis:
dropping bottle of methylene blue or other similar stain, microscope, microscope slide,
coverslip, small section of a peeled onion, forceps, toothpick, dropping bottle of water
a. Write a method for your investigation.
1. Peel section of onion epidermis and remove a section of epidermis using forceps.
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2. Using the dropping bottle with stain, add a drop to microscope slide.
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3. Using forceps, place onion skin in drop of stain on the slide.
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4. Using the toothpick, lower the cover slip over the onionskin and stain droplet.
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5. Soak up any excess water with a tissue.
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6. Place slide under microscope to view.
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b. The drawing below left was made of the stained onion epidermal tissue.
i. The nucleus and cell walls iii. The experiment was repeated
take up the methylene blue with iodine stain, which
stain. Use a blue pencil to strongly stains starch grains a
colour these components in deep blue-black colour. Use
the drawing. coloured pencils to colour the
ii. Use the scale to estimate starch grains, which are
the greatest width of a cell. scattered in the cytoplasm in
the cells on the right.

i. ..............................................................................................................................................................................................

ii. ..............................................................................................................................................................................................

iii. .............................................................................................................................................................................................

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