CELLS AND ORGANELLES

What Is A Cell?

• The smallest structural and functional unit of an organism.

NUCLEUS

• The cell nucleus acts like the brain of the cell. It helps control eating,movement and reproduction. It can be found in the middle of cytoplasm.
• An example of a nucleus is the CPU of a computer.

NUCLEOLUS

• The nucleolus is a round body located inside the nucleus of a eukaryotic cell. The nucleolus makes ribosomal subunits from proteins and ribosomal RNA.
• An example of a nucleolus is the White House.

Endoplasmic Reticulum (rough and smooth)

• Ribosomes are attached to the membrane of the ER, making it “rough.” This direct connection between the perinuclear space and the lumen of the ER allows for the movement of molecules through both membranes. An example of Rough ER is a Coca-Cola plant.
• Smooth ER acts as a storage organelle. smooth er makes lipids which are important for maintaining membranes so you could make the analagy for maintanence staff. An example of Smooth ER is when they put the coke in the bottles.

Golgi Apparatus

• The Golgi apparatus gathers simple molecules and combines them to make molecules that are more complex. Golgi complexes in the plant may also create complex sugars and send them off in secretory vesicles.
• An example of Golgi Apparatus is escalators in the mall. Golgi Apparatus move things around the cell, and the escalators move people around the mall.

MITOCHONDRIA

• Mitochondria are known as the powerhouses of the cell. They are organelles that act like a digestive system which takes in nutrients, breaks them down, and creates energy rich molecules for the cell. They are made of two membranes. The outer membrane covers the organelle and contains it like a skin. The inner membrane folds over many times and creates layered structures called cristae.
• An example of mitochondria is a Energy box because it powers the building

Chloroplasts

• Chloroplasts are the food producers of the cell. The organelles are only found in plant cells and some protists such as algae. Chloroplasts work to convert light energy of the Sun into sugars that can be used by cells.
• An example of chloroplasts is A solar panel because it filters sunlight and traps its energy.

vAcuoles

• Vacuoles are storage bubbles found in cells. Vacuoles might store food or any variety of nutrients a cell might need to survive. They can even store waste products so the rest of the cell is protected from contamination.
• An example of a vauole is a refrigerator,it stores food, water,and other substances like the vacuole.

LYSOSOMES

• The purpose of the lysosome is to digest things. They might be used to digest food or break down the cell when it dies. A lysosome is basically a specialized vesicle that holds a variety of enzymes.
• An example of a lysosome is your mouth become it has enzymes in it.

cytoskeleton

• The cytoskeleton is a structure that helps cells maintain their shape and internal organization, and it also provides mechanical support that enables cells to carry out essential functions like division and movement.
• Microfilaments can also carry out cellular movements including gliding, contraction, and cytokinesis.
• Microtubules act as a scaffold to determine cell shape, and provide a set of "tracks" for cell organelles and vesicles to move on.
• Intermediate filaments are about 10 nm diameter and provide tensile strength for the cell.

centrioles

• Every animal-like cell has two small organelles called centrioles. They are there to help the cell when it comes time to divide. They are put to work in both the process of mitosis and the process of meiosis. You will usually find them near the nucleus but they cannot be seen when the cell is not dividing.
• A centriole could be like a truck with a tow cable attached. The centriole is the truck, the spindle fibers are the cables.

plasma cell

• The cell membrane (also known as the plasma membrane or cytoplasmic membrane) is a biological membrane that separates the interior of all cells from the outside environment.
• you can compare the membrane to a bunch of balloons floating on a ceiling with strings attached (to represent the lipid layer) and then somehow, have another layer of balloons upside down with their strings going upwards (to represent the second part of the phospholipid bi-layer)