GCSE Combined Science Cells & cell division questions by topic

This question is about the parts of cells.

1. (a)Name the structure that controls what enters and leaves a cell.[1]
2. (b)Name the organelle where aerobic respiration happens.[1]
3. (c)Give one structure a plant cell has that an animal cell does not.[1]
4. (d)Name the DNA rings some bacteria carry in addition to their main loop.[1]

Compare the genetic material of a bacterial cell with that of a plant cell.

1. (a)Describe where the genetic material is found in a bacterial cell.[2]
2. (b)Describe where the genetic material is found in a plant cell.[1]
3. (c)State how many chromosomes a human body cell carries.[1]

A student makes a slide of onion epidermis to look at with a light microscope.

1. (a)State why iodine solution is added before the cover slip goes on.[1]
2. (b)Explain why the cover slip is lowered at an angle.[1]
3. (c)Name the focusing control used to sharpen the image at high power.[1]
4. (d)Give one safety precaution for this practical.[1]

Put the three stages of the cell cycle into the correct order and say what each produces.

1. (a)State what happens in the stage before mitosis.[2]
2. (b)Describe what happens during mitosis.[1]
3. (c)State what the division of the cytoplasm and membrane produces.[1]

A student views a plant cell that is 80 µm long, next to a bacterium that is 5 µm long.

1. (a)Give the bacterium’s length in metres in standard form.[1]
2. (b)Calculate how many times longer the plant cell is than the bacterium.[1]
3. (c)Give the bacterium’s length in millimetres.[1]
4. (d)State the total magnification when a ×10 eyepiece is used with a ×4 objective.[1]

A student draws a palisade cell 54 mm long. The real cell is 180 µm long.

1. (a)Give the drawing length in micrometres.[1]
2. (b)Calculate the magnification of the drawing.[2]
3. (c)Explain why your answer to (b) has no unit.[1]
4. (d)Give the real cell length in nanometres.[1]

A leaf hair is drawn 45 mm long at a magnification of ×1500.

1. (a)Calculate the real length of the leaf hair in millimetres.[2]
2. (b)Convert your answer to (a) into micrometres.[1]
3. (c)State the magnification if the same leaf hair is drawn 90 mm long.[1]

This question is about how cells become specialised.

1. (a)Name the process by which an unspecialised cell becomes a muscle cell.[1]
2. (b)Explain one way a muscle cell’s structure suits its function.[2]
3. (c)Name one other specialised animal cell and its function.[1]

A scientist counts 450 cells in a root tip. Of these, 90 show visible chromosomes being pulled to opposite poles.

1. (a)Calculate the percentage of cells in mitosis.[2]
2. (b)Explain why root tips are good places to observe mitosis.[1]
3. (c)State why the chromosomes are visible at this stage but not between divisions.[1]

Explain how the development of electron microscopy changed what scientists knew about cells.

1. (a)State one way an electron microscope outperforms a light microscope.[1]
2. (b)Describe what these instruments allowed scientists to see that light microscopes could not.[2]
3. (c)Explain why this mattered for understanding how cells work.[2]

Evaluate the use of stem cells from embryos compared with stem cells from adult bone marrow for treating disease.

1. (a)Give one advantage of embryonic stem cells over bone marrow stem cells.[2]
2. (b)Give one advantage of bone marrow stem cells over embryonic stem cells.[2]
3. (c)Explain why therapeutic cloning aims to avoid transplant rejection.[2]

A hospital laboratory must choose between a light microscope and an electron microscope to examine bacteria suspected of carrying plasmids that make them resistant to antibiotics.

1. (a)State which type of microscope is needed to see plasmids and justify the choice.[2]
2. (b)Explain why bacteria from the same colony are genetically identical, referring to cell division.[2]
3. (c)Give one reason resistance can still spread between unrelated bacteria.[1]