B2.

3 Fertilisation in Humans
Activity Support (B)

Name …………………………………………………..………….. Class …………………..

Sperm and egg

Aims
The aims of this practical are:
 to explain how sex cells are adapted to their jobs
 to follow instructions carefully to produce accurate scale models.

Equipment

Fusion 1 © Nelson Thornes Ltd 2008 1 B2 Reproduction

 B2.3 Fertilisation in Humans
Activity Support (B)
 Plasticine  Card
 Thread  Compasses
 Scissors  Ruler

Fusion 1 © Nelson Thornes Ltd 2008 2 B2 Reproduction

 B2.3 Fertilisation in Humans
Activity Support (B)

Safety
Take care when using scissors and compasses.

Activity
Here is a diagram of an egg cell and a sperm cell.

In real life, the egg cell is about 30 times bigger than the sperm cell. You are going to
make models to show this.
We can make a scale model of a sperm cell that is 1000  bigger than the actual cell.
1 Take a small piece of plasticine and make it into an oval shape 5 mm long and 3 mm wide.
This is the head of your model sperm.
2 Cut a piece of thread 50 mm long and attach it to the head. This is the tail.
We can also make a scale model of an egg cell that is 1000  bigger than the actual
cell.
1 Take a piece of card and draw a circle on it with a 146 mm diameter. (You can do this by
setting a pair of compasses to 73 mm.)
2 Cut out your circle and draw a spot in the middle of it to represent the nucleus of the egg
cell.

Questions
1. How is the sperm cell adapted to swim to the egg and fertilise it?

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2. How is the egg cell adapted and why?

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Fusion 1 © Nelson Thornes Ltd 2008 3 B2 Fertilisation in Humans

 B2.3 Fertilisation in Humans
Activity Support (B)

3. How are sperm and egg cells similar?

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4. How are sperm and egg cells different?

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Fusion 1 © Nelson Thornes Ltd 2008 4 B2 Fertilisation in Humans