The Onion Cell: Lab
MATERIALS
Whole white onion **soaked in water Cover slips
overnight* Eyedropper/pipette
Microscopes (2-3 students per scope) Iodine
Microscope slides Tweezers
Water bottle Worksheet
PROCEDURE
Preparing the wet mount slide of onion skin
1. Break an onion slice in two.
2. Carefully pull the slice apart.
3. Use tweezers to pull off a very thin piece of onion skin (the thinner, the better)
4. Place the skin in the center of the slide. Try to keep it from folding; get it as flat as
possible.
5. Add a drop of water to the onion skin and cover with a cover slip.
6. Press the cover slip down carefully to remove any air bubbles.
7. Place the slide on the stage of the microscope, set it to low power, adjust the focus
so the onion slice is clear. Draw four or five cells as seen. Label the cell walls.
9. Switch to higher power and try to identify the cell membrane, nucleus, and
cytoplasm.
Staining the onion cells
1. Lift up the cover slip and add one or two drops of iodine to the slide.
2. Lower the cover slip and examine the cells on higher power.
3. Iodine stains different parts of the cells so that different organelles can be seen.
Draw and label the cell wall, cell membrane, cytoplasm, and nucleus.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
1. What is the general shape of the onion cells?
2. Describe what you saw without the stain.
3. Why do you think there are many cells close together?
4. Is the onion skin composed of one cell or many cells?
5. Why is it easier to see the onion cells after they are stained?
6. All plant cells have cell walls. What is the function of the cell wall?
7. Count the number of cells that are seen in the field of view under low power
magnification and also under higher magnification. Compare the number of cells
observed in each field of view.
Human blood appears to be a red liquid to the naked eye, but under a microscope we can see that it
contains four distinct elements:
plasma
red blood cells
white blood cells
and platelets
The plasma is liquid part of blood, and is actually colorless. The red blood cells give blood its red
color. White blood cells are interspersed in the sea of red blood cells and help fight infection. The
platelets are fragments of red blood cells and function in clotting.
Materials:
Compound light microscope like one of THESE.
pin
matchbook
band-aid
slides
coverslips
Procedure:
1.First sterilize the pin by running it through a flame. (Ask an adult to supervise) Next, poke your
little finger quickly and lightly. Squeeze your finger and place a drop of blood on a slide and cover
with the coverslip. (Use a band-aid to prevent infection.) You may wish to view the lab "Preparing
a blood smear" for further information on preparing the slide.
2.Place the slide on the microscope stage, and bring into focus on low power (100X). Adjust
lighting and then switch into high power (400X).
3.You should see hundreds of tiny red blood cells; there are billions circulating throughout our
blood stream. Red blood cells contain no nucleus, which means they can't divide. Red blood cells
are constantly produced by the bone marrow and the spleen. You should also be to find a few white
blood cells. They are slightly larger than red blood cells, and have a nucleus. They resemble an
amoeba and can contort their body in any way they like. White blood cells fight infection by
consuming foreign bodies. The platelets are fragments of red blood cells and are very small.
The person whose blood was examined should then clean the slide. Avoid coming into contact with
another person's blood.
Research:
Which are bigger, red, or white blood cells?
What is the liquid part of the blood called?
What is the function of platelets?
CHEEK CELL
To prepare a temporary mount of human cheek cell.
1. Take a toothpick and gently scrape the inner side of the cheek.
2. Transfer the scraping to a clean slide.
3. Add a drop of methylene blue strain and a drop of glycerin over the scraping.
4. Put coverslip on the mount and observe under a microscope.
3. Sketch the cell at low and high power. Label the nucleus, cytoplasm, and cell membrane. Draw
your cells to scale.
4. Why is methylene blue necessary?
5. The light microscope used in the lab is not powerful enough to view other organelles in the cheek
cell. What parts of the cell were visible?
6. List 2 organelles that were NOT visible but should have been in the cheek cell.
7. Is the cheek cell a eukaryote or prokaryote? How do you know?
8. Keeping in mind that the mouth is the first site of chemical digestion in a human. Your saliva
starts the process of breaking down the food you eat. Keeping this in mind, what organelle do you
think would be numerous inside the cells of your mouth?
