Lab Report

Purpose: The purpose of this experiment is to determine and observe the

difference between an animal cell (cheek cell) and a plant cell (onion cell). Also the
purpose was to try to determine if one can see the cell better with water or methylene
blue under a microscope.

Hypothesis: The hypothesis is believed to be that one may be able to see the cells
better with the methylene blue rather than water. It is crucial for the methylene blue to
colour the cell because the onion cell is sort of transparent. So if one were to spot the
onion cell with water, it would be more difficult to spot this cell because it’s also
transparent. Also the cheek cells are surrounded with saliva and salvia is transparent just
like water. Hence it will be difficult to spot without the methylene blue, as it will colour
the cell, making it more visible. Finally the animal cell may not have an actual shape
because it has no cell wall, which usually gives the cell some shape. The plant cell will
look sort of like a rectangle but not a perfect rectangle because it has a cell wall and on
the diagrams I’ve seen, they show what shape the plant cell is going to have.

Materials: The materials that are needed to perform this experiment are a
microscope, slide, cover slip, water, eyedropper, toothpick, tweezers, methylene blue and
an onion.

Procedure: For the cheek cells with water: A) Gently scrape with a toothpick at
the inside of your cheek and then roll it on to the slide.
B) Let the slide dry for 5 minutes and then using the eyedropper, put about 3 drops of
water at the spot where you rolled the toothpick.
C) Drop the cover slip on to the water at a 45° angle so that there is very small amount of
air bubbles.
D) Move the slide onto the stage and adjust the fine and course adjustment knob until the
cells are visible.

For the cheek cells with methylene blue, do the same steps as the cheek cells with
water but instead of adding three drops of water, add three drops of methylene blue.
A) For the onion cell, use the tweezers to get a little piece of an onion layer and put it
onto the slide.
B) Add three drops of water to the layer and apply the cover slip at a 45° angle.
C) Move the slide onto the stage and adjust the fine and course adjustment knob until the
cells are visible.
For the onion cell with methylene blue just do the same thing, instead of adding
three drops of water just add three drops of methylene blue.
 Observations: For the low power lens for the cheek cell, I saw miniscule cells
that were the size of pinheads, and a few string like cells that were as thin as a pin. The
field of view for these cells was about 0.005mm because I was comparing it to the field
of view of the lens, which is 4.00mm. But the cell may be even smaller than our estimate
for its size. These cells were black and were not in motion.

Medium power for Water Cheek Cell: On the medium power lens I saw a few
of the same cells that I saw on low power. I saw about 4 cells that were also black and
had a circular shape and were solid and not sting like. Also the previous estimate for the
field of view has changed to a fraction of it, because after looking at it through the
medium lens I changed my estimate to 0.0016mm or 1.6 micrometers. So I basically saw
some of the same cells in the low power lens but they were more magnified. They looked
like small black beads.

High power for Water Cheek Cell: For the high power lens I saw a cell that was
transparent but had a small black dot that was the size of a pen’s ball tip. I believe that it
was a nucleus because it’s one of the largest organelles in an animal cell. I only saw that
one cell at a field of view of 0.004 mm or 4 micrometers. It was the size of a tiny marble
but it had a weird shape.
 Low power for Methylene Blue for Cheek Cells: For the low power with
methylene blue I saw about 3-5 cells that were moving slightly. These cells were also
string like as well. Their width was the size of a pin and it was black. The field of view
for the cell was about 50 micrometers.

Medium for Methylene Blue: For Medium I saw two cells that were the size of a
tiny bubble. They were string like and bunched up. Also they were in motion but moved
very slowly. The size of the bunched up cells is still about 50 micrometers and it was the
size of a tiny rock. I also saw two air sockets. The cells were black and a bit transparent.

High for Methylene Blue: For High power I found two cells that I believe are the
same cells for the medium, but they are magnified and the quantity is still the same. The
larger cell is the size of a bean and the smaller cell is basically half the size of the larger
cell. The field of view is still 50 micrometers. For this magnification the cell is a lot more
transparent and I did not see any organelles inside of the cell.

Onion Cell

Low Power for Onion Cell: I saw a large cell that is the size of a dandelion
pedal. I also saw a couple of smaller cells that were the size of pinheads. Other than that I
saw external bubbles. The field of view for the largest cell is about 25 micrometers. The
colour for this cell was transparent and sort of green.
 Medium Power for Methylene Onion Cell: For the medium power lens I saw a
cell that was the size and the shape of a splinter. I also saw a few bubbles. The colour was
also transparent and also sort of green just like the colour for the low power lens. The
field of view is around 15 micrometers.

High Power for Onion Cell: For the high power lens I saw a small cell that
looked like a small hook. The cell had something that looked like a vacuole or a nucleus
inside of it because the nucleus and vacuole are one of the largest organelles in the plant
cell. But I still think it is a nucleus due to its shape because a vacuoles shape is not
usually circular while a nucleus’s is. The field of view is still about 15 micrometers.

Low Power for Methylene Blue Onion Cell: For the onion cell on the low
power lens I saw a cell that also looked like a small transparent hook. The cell also had a
little bit of turquoise on it due to the methylene blue. The field of view is about 30
micrometers.

Medium Power for Methylene Blue Onion Cell: For the plant cell on medium power I
saw about six cells on which you could identify the cell wall. Also when you adjust the
fine adjustment knob it appears to look like its 3D. The cell was green and a bit
transparent and due to that I was able to spot about three organelles. The field of view is
about 0.05mm.
 High Power for Methylene Blue Onion Cell: I saw about seven cells but four of
them were cut off due to the field of view being too small. The cells that were clearly
visible had a green glow and you could spot a few organelles inside of them. Also the
clarity for this cell was exceptional. The field of view was about 0.04mm. Also the cells
did have a rectangular shape.

Conclusion: The purpose of this experiment is to determine the difference

between a plant and animal cell while looking at them under a microscope. It was also to
determine what you can see better with under a microscope, methylene blue or water. My
hypotheses was stating that I think I will be able to see better with methylene blue
because it dyes the cells and water does not. It was also saying the animal cell will not
have an actual shape and the plant cell will have a rectangular shape.
I believe that my hypothesis was correct because I was able to see the plant and
animal cell more enhanced and with more clarity with methylene blue, rather than the
water. Furthermore, my observations state that for the onion cell on high power I was
able to see the cells and organelles better with the methylene blue than the water. Finally
my observations state that for the onion cell with methylene blue, I was able to see the
plant cell and its rectangular shape and the animal cell with its circular shape. So my
conclusion does confirm my hypothesis, as my hypothesis was that it would be easier to
spot the cells with methylene blue rather than with water. My observations were also able
to state that the animal cell did have a circular shape and the plant cell did have a
rectangular shape.