Nucleic Acid Puzzle Solution
Category: Cells
Pz Cell Membranes
![]() |
Homeostasis & Transport |
| Unscramble and define each of the clue words. Copy the letters in the numbered cells to other cells with the same number. |

Potato Osmosis Bi Lab
| Potato Osmosis |
Introduction:
A shipwrecked sailor is stranded on a small desert island with no fresh water to drink. She knows she could last without food for up to a month, but if she didn’t have water to drink she would be dead within a week. Hoping to postpone the inevitable, her thirst drove her to drink the salty seawater. She was dead in two days. Why do you think drinking seawater killed the sailor faster than not drinking any water at all? Today we explore the cause of the sailor’s death. We’ll prepare solutions of salt water to represent the sea, and we’ll cut up slices of potato to represent the sailor. Potatoes are made of cells, as is the sailor!
Objective:
The concentration of solute in a solution will affect the movement of water across potato cell membranes.
Materials:
potato, corer, 3 plastic cups, marker, salt, sugar, distilled water, paper, pencil, electronic balance, clock with second hand or timer, metric ruler, small ziplock plastic bag, foil or plastic wrap
Procedure:
Day 1
- Use a knife to square off the ends of your potato. Your potato’s cells will act like the sailor’s cells.
- Stand your potato on end & use your cork borers to bore 3 vertical holes.

- Remove the potato cylinders from the cork borer & measure their length in centimeters.
- Cut the 3 potato cylinders to the same length (about 4 -5 centimeters long).
- Record the length & turgidity of the potato cylinders in your data table (day 1).
- Place the 3 potato cylinders in a small ziplock bag to prevent them from dehydrating before they’re used.
- Take 3 plastic cups and label them with the solution that will be placed in each one — sugar, salt, distilled water.
- Prepare a saturated solution of salt by mixing as much salt as you can with water.
- Repeat this step by making a saturated sugar solution.
- Now fill each cup 2/3’s full of the correct solution —- sugar water, salt water, or distilled water.
- Mass each of the potato cylinders & record this mass in grams on your data table.
- Place one of your potato cylinders into each cup and cover the top of the cup with foil or plastic.
- Leave the potato cylinders in the solution for 24 hours.
Day 2
- Carefully remove the potato cylinder from the distilled water solution & pat it dry on a paper towel.
- Measure the length of the potato cylinder & record this length & the appearance of the cylinder on your data table. (day 2)
- Measure & record the mass of this cylinder.
- Repeat steps 13-15 for the potato cylinders in the salt solution & the sugar solution.
- Clean up your equipment & area and return materials to their proper place.
Data:
| Results of Osmosis in Potato Cells | |||||||||
| Solution | Initial length cm (day1) |
Final length cm (day2) |
Change in length cm |
Initial Mass g (day1) |
Final Mass g (day2) |
Change in mass g |
Initial Turgidity (flaccid or crisp) |
Final Turgidity (flaccid or crisp) |
Tonicity of Solution (iso-, hypo-, or hpertonic) |
| Distilled water | |||||||||
| Salt Solution | |||||||||
| Sugar Solution | |||||||||
Results & Conclusions:
1. Did any of the potato cylinders change in their turgidity (flexibility), and if so, which ones changed?
2. Explain why the flexibility of the potato slices changed.
3. Define isotonic, hypotonic, & hypertonic solutions.
4. If potato slices changed in length or turgidity, what process was responsible for this?
5. Make a sketch of your potato cylinder in the distilled water and use arrows to show the direction of water movement across the potato cell membranes.
6. What type of solutions were the salt & sugar solutions. Explain how you know this.
7. Which solution served as the control for this experiment & why?
8. In which solutions was their a greater solute concentration outside of the cells?
9. In which direction did water move through these cell membranes?
10. In what type of solution do plant cells do best & why?
11. Using the information you’ve discovered from this experiment, explain why the sailor died that drank saltwater.
Preap Cell Study Guide
| Cell Structure & Function Review | ![]() |
1. The first Person to describe microscopic organisms and living cells was
________________________________.
2. The maximum size to which a cell may grow is limited mainly by the cell’s ___________________________ ____________________________.
3. Short, hair-like organelles that can move and may cover a unicellular organism or line the respiratory tract are called ______________________________________.
4. Some Ribosomes are free in the cytoplasm, while others line the membrane of the
_________________ __________________ __________________________.
5. Everything between the cell membrane and the nucleus, is the cell’s
____________________________________.
6. All cells, from all organisms, are surrounded by a _______________ _____________________.
7. Membranes are _______________________ and have the consistency of vegetable oil.
8. The organelle that stores DNA and synthesizes RNA _________________________.
9. The organelle that processes and packages substances produced by the cell ______________________ _________________________.
10. The ____________________________ is the control center of the cell.
11. The DNA in the form of a long strand is called ______________________________.
12. Cytoplasm consists of two main components: ____________________________ and
______________________________.
13. The cell membrane functions like a ______________________, controlling what
__________________ and _______________________ the cell.
14. A lipid is a simple form of ________________________________.
15. There are many kinds of ______________________ in cell membranes; they help to move material into and out of the cell.
16. Scientist call the modern view of the cell membrane structure the
______________________________ ____________________ _________________.
17. The nucleus is surrounded by a double layer membrane called the
__________________________ _________________________________.
18. During cell division, _________________________ strands coil and condense into thick structures called _____________________________________.
19. The nucleoli make ___________________________. Which in turn build proteins.
20. Membranes are made mostly of ___________________ and ______________________.
21. The _________________ is the smallest unit that can carry out all of the processes of life. The basic unit of life.
22. The maximum size to which a cell may grow is limited mainly by the cell’s ___________________ ____________________.
23. The discovery of cells is linked most directly the development of the __________________________.
24. Organisms whose cells never contain a membrane bound nucleus are called _____________________________________.
24. Suspended in the cell’s cytosol are tiny ___________________________________.
25. Cell membranes consist of two phospholipid layers called a ___________________.
26. The chromosomes in the nucleus contain coded _____________________ that control all cellular activity.
27. When a cell prepares to reproduce the _______________________ disappears.
28. Cytosol is a jelylike mixture that consists mostly of _____________________.
29. The nucleus is one ______________________________.
30. In Eukaryotic cells, most organelles are surrounded by a _____________________.
31. Organisms whose cells always or usually contain a nucleus or nuclei are called
____________________________________.
32. ________________________ are structures that carry out specific functions in the cell.
33. Most cells have a single ______________________; some cells have more than one.
34. Unicellular organisms such as bacteria and their relatives are ___________________________.
35. The Fluid Mosaic Model presents the modern view of a
__________________ ___________________________.
36. The “Blueprints” in a Cell that controls all its activity are the ___________________.
37. Where are poisons and waste detoxified in a cell? _________________________ _________________________________.
38. A cell synthesizes protein by using organelles called _______________________________.
39. The Mitochondria of a cell contain an inner membrane called _____________________________.
40. What are the membrane-bound sacs that package and secrete cell products?
___________________________ ___________________________.
41. Unlike animal cells, plant cells have ______________ ________________.
42. A Chloroplast can convert _________________, __________________________, and ____________________________ into ________________________.
43. What are Flagella? ___________________________________________________.
44. In animal cells, the Cytoskeleton maintains three-dimensional structure and helps the cell ___________________________.
45. The organelle that digest molecules, old organelles, and foreign substances in the cell _______________________________________.
46. A pigment that absorbs energy in sunlight ________________________________.
47. The organelle that prepares proteins for export and synthesizes steroids is ________________________ ________________________.
48. Ribosomes differ from most organelles because they have no ___________________________.
49. What type of cells would you expect to find large numbers of mitochondria? _______________________ _________________.
50. The “Powerhouse” of the cell _______________________________.
51. Short, hairlike organelles that can move and may cover a unicellular organism or line the respiratory tract are called _______________________________.
52. The first cells on Earth were likely _______________________ that did __________ make their own _________________.
53. Microfilaments and microtubules function in cell _______________________ and ____________________________.
54. What is the correct order of structures in living things, from simplest to the most complex? ______________________, __________________________, ______________________________, ______________________________.
55. The is the organelle that transfers energy in ATP _______________________________.
56. What word means “Water Fearing”? ____________________________.
57. What word means “Water Loving”? _____________________________.
58. What is cell specialization? Give an example.
59. Distinguish between the structure of rough ER and that of smooth ER.
60. Explain how ribosomes, endoplasmic reticulum, Golgi apparatus function together in protein synthesis.
61. Explain the difference between a tissue and an organ.
62. Why is the cell membrane said to be selectively permeable?
63. If a cell has a high energy requirement, would you expect it to have many or few mitochondria? Explain your answer.
64. Describe TWO differences between prokaryotic cells and eukaryotic cells.
65. How can you determine whether a unicellular organism is a prokaryote or a eukaryote?
66. Plant cells have cell walls, but animal cells do not. Why do you think that is so?
67. What are the THREE Parts of the Cell Theory?
68. Describe three differences between plant and animal cells.
69. Name the TWO different kinds of animal cells, and describe how their shape is related to their function.
70. What is the difference between chromatin and chromosomes?
71. What are the major roles of the nucleus, and what parts of the nucleus carry out these roles?
72. What is a colonial organism, and what does it have in common with multicellular organisms?




Osmosis & Diffusion in Egg Lab
| Osmosis & Diffusion in an Egg |
Objective:
In this investigation, you will use a fresh hen’s egg to determine what happens during osmosis & diffusion across membranes.
Materials: (per lab group)
1-2 fresh hen eggs in their shells, masking tape & marker, distilled water, clear sugar syrup (Karo, for example), vinegar, clear jar with lid, tongs, electronic balance, paper towels, paper, pencil
Procedure:
Day 1
- Label the jar with your lab group & the word “vinegar”.
- Mass the egg with the electronic balance & record in the data table.
- Carefully place the raw egg into the jar & cover the egg with vinegar.
- Loosely re-cap the jar & allow the jar to sit for 24 to 48 hours until the outer calcium shell is removed.
Day 2
- Open the jar & pour off the vinegar.
- Use tongs to carefully remove the egg to a paper towel & pat it dry.
- Record the size & appearance of your egg in your data table.
- Mass the egg on an electronic balance & record.
- Clean and re-label the jar with your lab group & the word “distilled water”.
- Carefully place the egg into the jar & cover the egg with distilled water.
- Loosely re-cap the jar & allow it to sit for 24 hours.
Day 3
- Open the jar & discard the distilled water.
- Use tongs to carefully remove the egg to a paper towel & pat it dry.
- Record the size & appearance of your egg in your data table.
- Mass the egg on an electronic balance & record.
- Clean and re-label the jar with your lab group & the word “syrup”.
- Carefully place the egg into the jar & cover the egg with clear syrup.
- Loosely re-cap the jar & allow it to sit for 24 hours.
Day 4
- Open the jar & pour off the syrup.
- Use tongs to very carefully remove the egg & rinse off the excess syrup under slow running water.
- Pat the egg dry on a paper towel.
- Record the size & appearance of your egg in your data table.
- Mass the egg on an electronic balance & record.
- Clean up your work area & put away all lab equipment.
Data:
RESULTS OF DIFFUSION |
|||
| Original Mass | Final Mass | Appearance of Egg | |
| VINEGAR | |||
| WATER | |||
| SYRUP | |||
Questions & Conclusion:
1. Vinegar is made of acetic acid & water. Explain how it was able to remove the calcium shell.
2. (a) What happened to the size of the egg after remaining in vinegar?
(b) Was there more or less liquid left in the jar?
(c) Did water move into or out of the egg? Why?
3. (a) What happened to the size of the egg after remaining in distilled water?
(b) Was there more or less liquid left in the jar?
(c) Did water move into or out of the egg? Why?
4. (a) What happened to the size of the egg after remaining in syrup?
(b) Was there more or less liquid left in the jar?
(c) Did water move into or out of the egg? Why?
5. Was the egg larger after remaining in water or vinegar? Why?
6. Why are fresh vegetables sprinkled with water at markets?
7. Roads are sometimes salted to melt ice. What does this salting do to the plants along roadsides & why?


