• Question: Hi Scientists, Lately in science my teacher has been talking about cells. But I have this question to ask .. How can you tell between a plant cell and an animal cell? Thanks

    Asked by lilzter to Dilwar, Lou, Simon, Susan on 20 Nov 2013.
    • Photo: Simon Langley-Evans

      Simon Langley-Evans answered on 20 Nov 2013:

      lilzter

      It is very easy to tell the difference. Plant cells all have a structure called the cell wall, which shows up as a thick border to the cells when you look under the microscope. No animal cells have a cell wall. Also many plant cells (though not all) contain chloroplasts, which are the factories where photosynthesis takes place. Animal cells never have chloroplasts.

    • Photo: Susan Skelton

      Susan Skelton answered on 20 Nov 2013:

      Hi lilzter!
      There are a few differences between animal and plant cells. Firstly, plant cells are often larger than animal cells. Animal cells can range from 10 to 30 micrometres in size (1 micrometre is 0.000001 metres), while plant cells vary from 10 all the way up to 100 micrometres.
      Apart from their size, the main structural differences between plant and animal cells are a few extra structures found in plant cell, including chloroplasts, the cell wall and vacuoles.

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