Question 5What is the three dimensional shape of Elodea? The three-dimensional shape is rectangular.

This Elodea leaf cell exemplifies a typical plant cell. It has a nucleus, and a stiff cell wall which gives the cell its box-like shape. The numerous green chloroplasts allow the cell to make its own food (by photosynthesis). The three-dimensional shape is rectangular.

A “typical” Elodea cell is approximately 0.05 millimeters long (50 micrometers long) and 0.025 millimeters wide (25 micrometers wide).

A chloroplast consists of thylakoid membranes surrounded by stroma. The thylakoids stack on top of each other, like a stack of pancakes. The thylakoid stacks arrange chlorophyll, accessory pigment molecules, and photosynthetic proteins to capture sunlight and allow a concentration of ions within the sacs.

Movement of Chloroplasts Chloroplasts do move in a cell. Observing chloroplasts in movement in an elodea cell is like watching a busy, bustling mass of pedestrians from a building high above. The motion is common to the interior of cells and is called cyclonic or cytoplasmic streaming.

… This Elodea leaf cell exemplifies a typical plant cell. It has a nucleus, and a stiff cell wall which gives the cell its box-like shape. The numerous green chloroplasts allow the cell to make its own food (by photosynthesis). The central vacuole takes up most of the volume of the cell.

Cellular Structure As photosynthesis occurs, elodea plants pass the produced oxygen from leaves to stem. Some oxygen escapes from the leaves to form oxygen bubbles in the water but the majority escapes from the stem as a result of larger intracellular air spaces.

Elodea provides shelter and food for many aquatic insects, crustaceans and fish. Elodea is often used in decorative purposes in the freshwater aquariums. Elodea quickly grows in waters rich in nitrogen and phosphorus. Rapid growth of elodea reduces oxygen content in the water and leads to fish kills.

They also discover that during photosynthesis, plants produce oxygen and produce sugar, which is then quickly converted to starch. Through investigation, students observe that an Elodea plant in water and exposed to light performs photosynthesis.

Plants use carbon dioxide and produce oxygen gas during photosynthesis. They produce carbon dioxide during cellular respiration.

Snails generate CO2 that elodea convert into sugar. Elodea produces the O2 and glucose that the snail will consume.

cre·nate. adj. Having a margin with low, rounded or scalloped projections: a crenate leaf.

Crenation Versus Plasmolysis While crenation occurs in animals cells, cells that have a cell wall cannot shrink and change shape when placed in a hypertonic solution. In plasmolysis, water leaves the cytoplasm, but the cell wall does not collapse.

Cytolysis, or osmotic lysis, occurs when a cell bursts due to an osmotic imbalance that has caused excess water to diffuse into the cell. Water can enter the cell by diffusion through the cell membrane or through selective membrane channels called aquaporins, which greatly facilitate the flow of water.

Plasmolysis is when plant cells lose water after being placed in a solution that has a higher concentration of solutes than the cell does. This causes the protoplasm, all the material on the inside of the cell, to shrink away from the cell wall.

A red blood cell will swell and undergo hemolysis (burst) when placed in a hypotonic solution. When placed in a hypertonic solution, a red blood cell will lose water and undergo crenation (shrivel).