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Year 9 Science — The cell, the basic unit of life

Name the parts of a cell and what each does, tell a plant cell from an animal cell, and put the levels of organisation in order.

Name: ________________________

Before you start

Six parts of a plant cell are marked out here. Take them one at a time, and each will name itself.

123456
  1. 1. Cell wall
  2. 2. Cell membrane
  3. 3. Cytoplasm
  4. 4. Vacuole
  5. 5. Chloroplast
  6. 6. Nucleus

The cell wall and the chloroplasts are the two parts you would not find if this were an animal cell.

  1. 1.Match each level of organisation to what it is built from.

    • Tissue
    • Organ
    • Organ system
    • different tissues working together
    • several organs carrying out one major body function
    • a group of similar cells

  2. 2.How does the vacuole in a plant cell differ from those in an animal cell?

    • a) The plant cell has many tiny vacuoles; an animal cell has one large one
    • b) The plant cell has one large vacuole; an animal cell's are usually absent or small
    • c) Vacuoles are found in animal cells and not in plant cells
    • d) The vacuole in a plant cell is filled with chlorophyll

  3. 3.Fungal cells have a cell wall, as plant cells do. Why can a fungus still not make its own food by photosynthesis?

    • a) It has no nucleus to regulate the process
    • b) It has no chloroplasts
    • c) Its cell wall blocks out sunlight
    • d) It has no cell membrane

  4. 4.Match each part of a cell to the job it does.

    • Cell membrane
    • Cytoplasm
    • Nucleus
    • Cell wall
    • an extra outer layer that stiffens the cell
    • regulates what the cell does and how it grows
    • separates one cell from the next and lets material in and out
    • the place where most life processes happen

  5. 5.Which part is present in an onion peel cell but absent from a human cheek cell?

    • a) The cell membrane
    • b) The cytoplasm
    • c) The cell wall
    • d) The nucleus

  6. 6.The life of a complex organism begins with a single cell. Which one?

    • a) A cheek cell
    • b) A muscle cell
    • c) The egg
    • d) A nerve cell

  7. 7.Robert Hooke looked at a thin slice of cork and saw rows of small empty compartments. What did he call each one, and why does it matter?

    • a) A microbe — the first use of the word in science
    • b) A cell — the first use of the word in science
    • c) A nucleus — the first use of the word in science
    • d) A tissue — the first use of the word in science

  8. 8.This is a plant cell. Tap the part that regulates what the cell does and how it grows.

    Write the number of the part.

    1234

Answer key — Year 9 Science — The cell, the basic unit of life

  1. 1. Tissue → a group of similar cells; Organ → different tissues working together; Organ system → several organs carrying out one major body function
  2. 2. b) The plant cell has one large vacuole; an animal cell's are usually absent or small
  3. 3. b) It has no chloroplasts
  4. 4. Cell membrane → separates one cell from the next and lets material in and out; Cytoplasm → the place where most life processes happen; Nucleus → regulates what the cell does and how it grows; Cell wall → an extra outer layer that stiffens the cell
  5. 5. c) The cell wall
  6. 6. c) The egg
  7. 7. b) A cell — the first use of the word in science
  8. 8. 4 — Nucleus