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Class 8 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.Fungal cells have a cell wall, as plant cells do. Why can a fungus still not make its own food by photosynthesis?

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

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

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

  3. 3.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

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

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

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

  6. 6.Three kinds of human cell, sorted by their shape under the microscope.

    Groups: Spindle-shaped · Long and branched · Thin and flat

    • Muscle cell
    • Nerve cell
    • Cheek cell

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

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

  8. 8.Who made better lenses in the 1660s, was the first to see and describe bacteria and blood cells, and is called the Father of Microbiology?

    • a) Robert Hooke
    • b) Antonie van Leeuwenhoek
    • c) Acharya Kanad
    • d) Ananda Mohan Chakrabarty

Answer key — Class 8 Science — The cell, the basic unit of life

  1. 1. b) It has no chloroplasts
  2. 2. 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
  3. 3. 4 — Nucleus
  4. 4. b) A cell — the first use of the word in science
  5. 5. c) The cell wall
  6. 6. Muscle cell → Spindle-shaped; Nerve cell → Long and branched; Cheek cell → Thin and flat
  7. 7. Tissue → a group of similar cells; Organ → different tissues working together; Organ system → several organs carrying out one major body function
  8. 8. b) Antonie van Leeuwenhoek