Cell Biology

• Binary fission


  How bacteria asexually reproduce

  
• Colonies


  A visible mass of many bacteria

  
• Nutrient broth solution


  A liquid food culture media to grow bacteria

  
• Agar gel plates


  A solid food culture media to grow bacteria

  
• Aseptic technique


  A way of preventing contamination when growing bacteria

  
• Petri dish


  A glass or plastic dish where bacteria are grown on agar

  
• Inoculating loop


  A sterile looped piece of wire which can transfer bacteria between culture media

  
• Incubator


  A machine with a set temperature to grow bacteria

  
• Contamination


  When unwanted bacteria or other microorganisms grow in the culture media

  
• Culture media


  A liquid or solid food source to grow bacterial cultures in
• Antiseptic


  A substance which kills bacteria and other microorganisms
• Antibiotic


  A medication which is used to kill specific bacteria

  
• Sterilisation


  A method of removing microorganisms from surfaces usually by means of chemicals or heat

  
• Disinfectants


  A substance which prevents the growth of bacteria and other microorganisms

  
• Zone of inhibition


  An area of media where bacteria cannot grow that shows the effectiveness of a disinfectant or antibiotic

  
• Diameter or area of clear zone

  The dependent variable or factor that is measured in this experiment to investigate the effect of disinfectants

  
• Type or concentration of disinfectant


  The independent variable or factor that is changed in this experiment to investigate the effect of disinfectants
• Temperature, time, volume, concentration


  Possible variables that can be controlled to make sure the experiment is a fair test
• Experimental procedure


  Multiple sterile discs should be dipped into different disinfectants or different concentrations of disinfectant, after which they should be carefully placed on agar and incubated with bacteria
• Expected results


  The more effective the disinfectant, the larger the area of the zone of inhibition

  
• Control sample


  A disc soaked with water and no disinfectant on can be used as a control to compare with discs that have been dipped in disinfectant

  
• Light microscope


  Equipment which uses visible light to detect and magnify small objects

  
• Magnification


  How much an image appears to have increased in size by

  
• Magnification equation


  Magnification = size of image/size of real object

  
• Image size


  The size of an object on an image after magnification

  
• Actual size


  The actual or real size of an object before magnification

  
• Total magnification


  The overall magnification in a light microscope due to the combined magnification of the eyepiece lens and the objective lens

  
• Total magnification equation


  Total magnification = eyepiece lens magnification x objective lens magnification
• Eyepiece lens


  The lens that is closest to the eye when viewing a microscope

  
• Objective lenses


  A set of lenses above the stage that can be manually adjusted to provide a higher magnification

  
• Magnification scale


  A scale bar on an image that represents the actual size of an object

  
• Graticule


  A scale with many divisions that is printed on to the eyepiece lens to measure an object's size

  
• Focusing wheel


  A twistable wheel that adjusts the focus of an object by changing the height of the microscope stage

  
• Microscope slide


  A thin piece of glass that holds biological specimens to be observed under a microscope

  
• Microscope stage


  Where the microscope slide is placed and help in place with stage clips

  
• Field of view


  The maximum diameter or area that is visible when looking through a microscope eyepiece

  
• Onion cells


  An easily obtainable source of plant cells

  
• Cheek cells


  An easily obtainable source of animal cells

  
• Iodine solution


  An orange-brown dye that can be used to stain onion cells to make them easily observable

  
• Methylene blue


  A blue dye that can be used to stain cheek cells to make them easily observable