Grade 8 Chapter : Cell Class : 1

1. Draw a neat labeled diagram of microscope and give the function of each part.

Eye piece – helps in viewing specimen.

Nose piece or body tube – holds objective piece
Coarse adjustment knob- helps in rough adjustment to view the slide.
Fine adjustment knob – helps in fine adjusting and hence specimen can be observed
more clearly.
Objective piece – magnification can be done based on requirement.
Arm – helps in handling microscope
Stage and clips – holds the slide in one place.
Condenser – reduces or increases amount of light reaching the specimen.
Mirror – reflects the light on to specimen
Base – hold microscope in place.

2. Define mounting. Explain its type.

Preparation of specimen on a slide to observe under microscope. This process is
called mounting.
Wet mount: living specimen are mounted using water or glycerine, hence called wet
mount.
Dry mount: non-animate(non-living) specimen are mounted without water or glycerine.
Grade 8 Chapter : Cell Class : 2

1. What is structural organization?

Arrangement of cells to tissue, tissue to organ, organ to organ system and organ
system to form an organism is called structural organization.

2. Why is cell called as structural and functional unit of life?

Cell is called as fundamental unit of life. i.e, structural and functional unit as:
o Structural unit means forms structure of the organism.
o Functional unit means performs all the functions an organism performs.

3. Who discovered cell? How? Why did he call it cell?

• Robert Hooke discovered it while observing cork and found little compartments.
(1665)
• He called it cell because cell in latin means little room.

4. Study of cell is called as cytology.

5. Anton Van Leeuwenhoek discovered free living cell.

6. Robert Brown discovered nucleus.

7. Purkinje coined term protoplasm.

8. Study of microorganism is called microbiology.

9. Schleiden stated plants are made up of cell.

10. Schwann stated animals are made up of cell.

11. What is cell theory?

Ans.

 Cell theory was presented by Schleiden(1838) and Schwann(1839)

 Cell is basic unit of life, all plants and animals are composed of cells.
Grade 8 Chapter : Cell Class : 3

1. How are cells classified?

I. Based on the number of cell, organism is divided as :
Unicellular organism: single cell
Ex: bacteria, amoeba
Multicellular organism: many cells
Ex: humans, birds

II. Based on the function, cells structure ( shape and size) changes
Ex: Nerve cell – elongated to transfer impulse.
Skin cell – is flat and broad to occupy more area.
Red blood cell – biconcave – carry O₂.

III Based on presence or absence of nucleus it is classified as:

 Prokaryotic cell – cell that do not have well defined nucleus.
Ex: bacteria, blue-green algae
 Eukaryotic cell – cell that contain well defined nucleus.
Ex: prokaryote, plant

2. When cell is observed in microscope what are the 3 distinct layers seen?
• Outer most - Cell membrane or plasma membrane
• Clear – cytoplasm
• Darkly stained – nucleus

3. Write few characteristics about cell membrane.

• Outer most membrane.
• Selectively permeable membrane.
• Made of lipo-protein

4. What are the functions of cell membrane?

 Phagocytosis – large-sized solid intake
 Pinocytosis – fluid intake
 Endocytosis – inward folding of membrane to engulf food.
 Helps in transportation of substance in and out of cell.
o Passive transport – movement of substance from high concentration to low
concentration.
 No energy is require.
 Ex: diffusion
o Active transport – movement of substance by spending energy (ATP)
 Ex: protein, starch is transported by active transport
Grade 8 Chapter : Cell Class : 4

1. Write a brief note on cell wall.

Ans.

 Strong outer covering that acts as an extra protective layer for plant cell.
 It prevents desiccation (drying) of cell.
 It is made of cellulose and hence it is provides extra structural support.
 Cell wall also prevents plants cell from excess intake of water.
 Cell wall exerts equal pressure against the swollen cell and hence doesn’t
allow cell to burst.
 Cell wall is found only in plant cell and not in animal cell.

2. Define imbibition.
Ans. Imbibition is a special type of diffusion, when water is absorbed by dry seeds
or solids causing an increase in volume.

Ex: absorption of water by seeds and dry wood.

3. How does cell wall prevent plant cell from bursting during turgid condition?
Ans.
 When plant cell absorbs more water, the cell membrane exerts pressure on the
cell wall, this condition of cell bulging due to water intake is called turgid.
 Cell wall exerts equal pressure against the swollen cell and hence doesn’t allow
cell to burst.

4. Write characteristics of cytoplasm.

Ans.

 Helps in better transportation of nutrients, waste., into and out of cell.

 It is jelly like substance containing 80% of water.
 It is also called cytosol as it is mixture of solid in liquid.
 Acts as medium for chemical reactions.
 Gives shape to the cell.
 It contains cytoskeletal fiber that provides structural support to the cell.
 It holds all cell organelles.
 Helps in throwing out waste.
 Cell division takes place in cytoplasm.
1. Mitochondria is the power house of the cell.

2. Give example of prokaryotic cell.

Answer: Blue-green algae and bacteria

3. Why we do not sense any pain when we cut nails and hair?
Answer: Nails and hair are made up of dead cells.

4. What is the other name of cell membrane?

Answer: Plasma membrane

5. What is the name of thread-like structure present in nucleoplasm?

Answer: Chromatin

6. What is the function of cell wall?

Answer: Cell wall is a tough, rigid layer that surrounds some types of cells (plants and some bacterial
cells). The major function of the cell wall is to provide rigidity, tensile strength, structural support,
protection against mechanical stress and infection.

7. Name the parts of the nucleus and state its function.

Answer:

 Nucleus is a dense round body found in the centre of an animal cell and mostly on the
periphery of the plant cell.
 Nucleus consists of three main parts—nuclear membrane, nucleoplasm and nucleolus.
 Nucleus also controls the process of cell division. This is the reason nucleus is also known as
the ‘brain of the cell’.
 It also controls the activities of the cell.
 A spherical body present at the centre of the nucleus is called the nucleolus. It is site for
protein synthesis.

8. Nucleus controls the function of a cell.

9. Cell membrane selectively allows things to get in and out of the cell.
10. Genes transfer characters from parents to offspring.

11. What is endoplasmic reticulum? Give its types and function.

Answer: It is the system of complex folded network of membranous tubes which connects nuclear
membrane with the plasma membrane. They allow movement of substances within the cell.

Endoplasmic reticulum is divided into two types based on presence of ribosomes.

1. Rough endoplasmic reticulum (RER) – contains ribosomes on their outer surface. Due to
presence of ribosomes, RER produce proteins and helps in transportation.
 2. Smooth endoplasmic reticulum (SER) – do not contain ribosomes, hence no protein synthesis
is done here. It helps in synthesis of carbohydrates, lipids and other complex molecules
required by cell.

Smooth endoplasmic reticulum produces cell membrane by combining lipids and proteins, this
process is called biogenesis.

12. The tiny components present in the cytoplasm are called cell organelles.
13. Differentiate between cell wall and cell membrane

Cell wall Cell membrane

(i) It is present in only plant cells. (i) It is present in both plant and animal cells.

(ii) It is rigid, thick structure. (ii) It is delicate, thin structure.

(iii) It is completely permeable to ordinary (iii) It is selectively permeable to molecules.

molecules

(iv) It is metabolically inactive and nonliving. (iv) It is metabolically active and living.

14. What are plastids? Give their functions and types.

Answer: The plastid is a membrane-bound organelle found in the cells of plant. They are spherical
or ovoid in shape. They either carry pigments required for functions of plant cell or help in storage
of nutrients.

Plastids are divided into 2 types:

1. Leucoplasts: these helps in storage of nutrients and are further divided into 3 types:
a. Amyloplast : stores carbohydrates
b. Elaioplast: stores lipids (fats)
c. Proteinoplast: stores proteins
2. Chromoplast: these contain pigments required for certain functions and impart colour to fruits,
flower, etc.,
Chloroplast is a type of chromoplast and synthesis chlorophyll required for photosynthesis.

15. Differentiate between leucoplast and chloroplast

Leucoplast Chloroplast

(i) It is colourless plastid. (i) It is green plastid.

(ii) It is found in underground parts of plants (ii) It is found in green parts of plants like
like, roots, and underground modified stems. leaves, stem and sepals.

(iii) It help in storage of food. (iii) It helps in photosynthesis.

16. Differentiate between vacuoles in plants and animals

Vacuoles in plants Vacuoles in animals

(i) Plant cell vacuoles are large in size. (i) Animal cell vacuoles are smaller in size.

(ii) Usually a large central vacuole is found. (ii) Many vacuoles are found.

(iii) It is usually permanent structure. (iii) It is mostly temporary structure.

17. What would happen if animals have cell wall?

Answer: All parts of the animal would become rigid which will make their movement of limbs and body
parts difficult.

18. Why plant cells need cell walls?

Answer: As plants cannot move, they need protection against variations in temperature, high wind
speed, atmospheric moisture, etc.

19. Shyam being very inquisitive, didn’t listen to the teacher’s instruction properly. He took the thin
layer of onion peel with a drop of water on the glass slide. He placed the coverslip on it and start
observing the slide under a microscope. But he was unable to see the cells of onion peel properly.

a. What do you think he might have forgotten?

b. What is the function of a dye?

Answer: a. He might have forgotten using dye.

b. Dye stains the cell and its component and make them visible.

20. Give example of diseases which are passed on from parents to the offspring. Find out how these
are carried and also if these diseases can be treated.
Answer: Disease that are passed on from parents to offspring are called hereditary disease. These
disease are formed due to disorder (problem) found in the genes (DNA).
Examples of such diseases are colour blindness, haemophilia, thalassemia, etc. Most of these
diseases cannot be treated as we cannot change DNA or genes by medicines.
21. Nucleus is separated from cytoplasm by nuclear membrane.

22. The liquid material in the nucleus is nucleoplasm.

23. Cells which lack nuclear membrane are prokaryotic cells

24. The coloured organelles which are found in plants only are chromoplasts.

25. Centrosome is a structure that organizes microtubules during cell division.

26. Write the functions of lysosomes.

Answer: A lysosome is a membrane-bound organelle found in many animal cells.
 They are spherical vesicles that contain hydrolytic enzymes that can break down many kinds
of biomolecules.
 Lysosomes helps in degrading and recycling cellular waste, digesting food and also digesting cell itself
in case of infection or aging of cell, hence it is also called suicide bag of cell.

27. Write a brief note on golgi body.

Answer: The Golgi apparatus also known as the Golgi complex, Golgi body, or simply the Golgi, is an organelle
found in most eukaryotic cells.

 It was discovered by the scientist Camillo Golgi.

 It is only organelle named after a scientist.
 Golgi apparatus, organelle of eukaryotic cells that is responsible for transporting, modifying, and packaging
proteins and lipids.