Lesson 4.1 - Cell City

Lesson 4.1 - Cell City

Cells are very small and difficult to see but we can compare them with something larger to help understand just what they are like. Let's compare them with a city.

A city has many parts to it including a central downtown area with city hall for decision making, many shops storing food, roads for transportation of people and goods, and factories on the outskirts making products and power.

A cell is similar because it too has a central area or nucleus for decisions, organelles that store food called vacuoles, endoplasmic reticulum which are like roads and a power source, the mitochondrion.

Parts of a City	Parts of a Cell
downtown center with a city hall for decisions	nucleus, which makes decisions for the cell
shops with food and groceries	vacuoles store food for the cell
roads for vehicles to carry people, food and products	endoplasmic reticulum transports food, water and wastes around the cell
factories to make products and power	mitochondrion to make power for the cell

Read pages 174 and 175 in your textbook and study the diagram of the Cell City by jumping aboard the helicopter and flying through the city gates to each station. Then answer the following questions.

Question 1. Complete question 1 of "Check Your Understanding" on page 175.

Question 2. Complete question 2 of "Check Your Understanding" on page 175.Use this chart and fill in the blanks.

Cell Part	Task(s) Performed	Cell City Part	Task(s) Performed
_____________	controls what enters and leaves the cell	city gate	_____________
_____________	contains the interior area and holds organelles in place	whole area inside	contains all the buildings and streets of the city
nucleus	_____________	__________	_____________
_____________	provides energy for the cell	power plant	_____________
_____________	_____________	water and sewage treatment plants	_____________
_____________	_____________	recycling and waste disposal	_____________
chloroplasts	_____________	__________	_____________
_____________	_____________	relay system	communication and transportation

Question 3. Predict what would happen if there was a breakdown in the transportation system of Cell City.

Question 4. Predict what would happen if there was a breakdown in the transportation system of a cell.

  

Answers to Questions:

Question 1. How do raw materials come into a city? into a cell?

Raw materials enter a city through it's gates. They enter a cell through special openings in the cell wall or cell membrane.

Question 2. Compare the tasks performed in a cell to those done in this Cell City.

Cell Part	Task(s) Performed	Cell City Part	Task(s) Performed
cell wall and cell membrane	controls what enters and leaves the cell	city gate	controls what enters and leaves the city
cytoplasm	contains the interior area and holds organelles in place	whole area inside	contains all the buildings and streets of the city
nucleus	the control center of the cell	city hall	the control center for the city
mitochondrion	provides energy for the cell	power plant	provides energy for the city
vacuole	stores water, food, waste for later use or disposal	water and sewage treatment plants	stores water and treats waste products
golgi body	packages and transports wastes	recycling and waste disposal	packages wastes and transports away
chloroplasts	produce food for the plant cell	greenhouses, farms	provide food needed to survive
endoplasmic reticulum (ER)	transports materials in the cell	relay system	communication and transportation

Question 3. Predict what would happen if there was a breakdown in the transportation system of Cell City.

Food and water would not be able to be brought into the city. The stores and factories wouldn't be able to get their supplies so there would be no work for the people. Wastes and garbage could not be hauled out and would build up. The city would come to a stand still.

Question 4. Predict what would happen if there was a breakdown in the transportation system of a cell.

Without a transportation system, nutrients and water would not be carried throughout the cell. Wastes wouldn't be removed but would build up. The cell might die from the lack of nutrients and build up of wastes.

 

 
Now it is time to do the Assignment 8D. Page forward to access it.