Title: Unit 5:

Reproduction and
Development
Gametes
What is this?
B

What are the functions of the

structures?
Learning Outcomes
• What
– What are gametes?
– What are the male and female gametes and the differences
between them?
– What are chromosomes?

• How?
– draw diagrams, class discussion and table
• Why?
– You started as a single cell, we need to know how this cell was made.
 What are chromosomes?
• Every cell has
Chromosomes.
• They are made of
genetic material.

Every cell in your

body has 46
chromosomes except
for…
What are gametes?
• You started life as one single cell.
• It was made by a sperm cell and egg cell
joining together.
• These cells which are adapted for
reproduction are gametes.
• Gametes only have 23 chromosomes.
Egg Cells
• Egg cells are the female gametes.
• They are bigger than most other cells.
• They have to be large to make space for
food stores in their cytoplasm.
Cell
membrane
Sperm Cells – cop
• Sperm cells are the male gametes.
• They are smaller than most other cells.
• The sperm cells have to swim to the egg.
– What features do they have which will help them to
swim?
 The size of an egg compared to
a sperm
The Human egg is about 20 times bigger
than the human sperm.
Millions of sperm are produced constantly
after puberty.
Only 1 egg is released
per month after puberty.
Do you get it?
Complete the table to compare sperm
and egg cells.
Feature Sperm Cell Egg Cell
Size
Movement
Food store
Number of
chromosomes
Number
produced
What is fertilisation?
What is fertilisation?
• Fertilisation is where the nucleus of the
sperm and the egg join together.

• The new cell that is produced is call a

zygote.

• How many chromosomes

will a zygote have?