Chapter 6 Flashcards
All organisms are made of
cells
The cell is the
simplest collection of matter that can live.
They have the 7 qualities of life
Cell structure is correlated to
cellular function
All cells are related by their
descent from earlier cells.
Though usually too small to be seen by the unaided eye,
cells can be complex
Scientists use microscopes to
visualize cells to small to see with the naked eye
In a Light Microscope (LM),
visible light passes through a specimen and then through glass lenses
Lenses refract (bend) the light, so that
the image is magnified
Three important parameters of microscopy
Magnification
Resolution
Contrast
Magnification
the ratio of an object’s image size to its real size
Resolution
the measure of the clarity of the image, or the minimum distance of two distinguishable points.
(how clear you can see the image and magnify it)
Contrast
visible differences in parts of the sample
Light Microscopes (LMs) can magnify to about
1,000 times the size of the actual specimen
Various techniques enhance
contrast and enable cell components to be stained or labeled
Most subcellular structures, including organelles,
are too small to be resolved by a Light Microscope (LM)
Organelles
membrane-enclosed compartments
Two basic types of Electron Microscopes (EMs) that are used to study subcellular structures
Scanning Electron Microscopes (SEMs)
Transmission Electron Microscopes (TEMs)
Scanning Electron Microscopes (SEMs)
focus a beam of electrons onto the surface of a specimen, providing images that look 3-D.
-Allows you to see the surface!!
SURFACE (SSS)
Transmission Electron Microscopes (TEMs)
focus a beam of electrons through a specimen
-allows you to see the little things inside
internal ultrastructures
-Disadvantage: only dead specimen
Cell fractionation
takes cells apart and separates the major organelles from one another
-so you can study just the parts you’re interested in.
It starts out slow and short spins, then it ends up with fast and long spins
Centrifuges fractionate cells into
their component parts
Cell fractionation enables scientists to
determine the functions of organelles
Biochemistry and cytology help correlate
cell function with structure
The order the organelles fall out during Cell fractionation
- nucleus
- mitochondria and chloroplast
- microsomes
- ribosomes