This experiment allowed the similarities and differences between plant (agapanthus) cells and animal (human cheek) cells to be examined. The shapes shown in the results were these two types of cells. The cell that was dyed pink was a human cheek cell, and the regular-shaped cell was an agapanthus cell. The basic structure of an agapanthus cell and cheek cell could easily be seen. It is obvious that the individual cells were more detailed when a higher magnification was used to observe the cell samples.

From the highest magnification of the light microscope when observing the animal cell, only the nucleus and cell membrane could be seen. The nucleus was the small spot inside the cell, and the cell membrane was the outline of the cell. Whether …show more content…
This problem impacted the results because it affected the way the cell looked on the microscope. More than once, the samples would have two or more layers of tissue instead of one. This affected the way the sample was looked at and observed because there was not a clear outline of the cell as other layers of tissue obstructed the viewing of one layer. The making of a good sample took time. This problem could, however, be fixed with practice.

Another problem that was encountered was that taking photos of the sample was very difficult. As lots of effort was required, not many photos were taken. As a result, obtaining photos was a problem, but was not a major problem. The problem would be fixed if a device was available that took photos while observation were being made.

Relating to the previous problem was the fact that the photo quality was not the best, and details of the cells may have been missed. Some reasons for the bad quality photos may have been the camera not being able to properly focus while looking into the microscope, or that the camera was not held steadily enough. This may have lead to missing data. For example, when taking photos for the agapanthus cells, the nucleus could have been seen. This problem could be fixed if many different photos were taken at different focuses on the microscope. Also, if different samples were used, the accuracy …show more content…
The mitochondria, smooth ER, rough ER, ribosomes, centrosomes, microtubules, golgi body, vacuole and lysosomes could not be seen. This was a limitation because the microscopes were not powerful enough to be able to show the smaller organelles, and more powerful microscopes or higher magnification objective lens were not available.

The agapanthus plant specimen was more interesting because more organelles could be seen under the microscope. Unlike the cheek cells, which only two organelles could be seen, the agapanthus cell showed the larger organelles such as the cell membrane, cell wall, stomata, guard cell and chloroplast.

When observing the cells under a microscope, the cell’s appearances are more different than similar. They are different colours, as the cheek cells were pink because of the colour dye that was used. Dye for the cheek cell was needed because the cell was too small to see. The dye made it easier for the cells to be seen under a microscope. The agapanthus cells did not need to be dyed because the details of the cell could already be seen. The agapanthus cell was a green colour because of the chloroplast. The animal cell had a rounder shape and the plant cell’s shape was more rectangular and regular. Also, the agapanthus cells had more details that could be observed because all of the larger organelles could be