Health and Social Care Unit 5 P1 Cells

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1.1 Organisation of the body Inside every human being lives billions of microscopic units. These are called cells. These cells carry out a numerous amount of chemical reactions and processes that make up the essence of life itself. Cells are hardly ever on their own, the majority of the time they are grouped together with cells that are similar. These groups of cells are known as tissues. Organs that are responsible for major functions are known as organs. 1.2 Cells The biggest cell in the human body is called the female ovum; this cell can just about be seen with the naked eye. Most cells are even smaller than this and microscopes are needed to be able to see them clearly. Electron microscopes are needed to clearly see the detail of what the cells contain. These microscopes are a really expensive piece of equipment, instead of these, diagrams and photomicrographs are used. A photomicrograph is a photograph that is taken of an object that is magnified underneath a microscope. The details of the interior of the cell are referred to as the ultrastructure of the cell. Ultra means that is beyond what is considered normal. This is because they can only be seen with an immense magnification. The tiny bodies that live inside each cell are known as organelles. This is because they each have different physical and chemical compositions and carry out their own functions. There is a cell that is called a typical cell. This is because it has no specialisation and is used for studying purposes only. The protoplasm is the living material that makes up the cell. This is subdivided into the cytoplasm and the nucleus. Cell membrane The electron microscope shows the cell membrane to be a phosphor-lipid-protein. These lipids are fatty and small molecules in two layers with larger protein molecules inserted either partly or completely through the two layers which is

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