Mitosis Lab

In the Mitosis lab an onion root was observed under a microscope to observe whether or not cell division takes place. Also, whether cells replicate in order for it to reproduce. By observing the onion root under the microscope it allows many layers to be looked at through each cell division. The goal of Mitosis is the replication of cells to produce multiple like cells. The steps involved in Mitosis are what is known as the PMAT stages, which are the following: Prophase, Metaphase, Anaphase and Telephase. In the first stage Prophase the cell is starting to curl up into a circular ball. The next step Metaphase is when the cell gets completely curled up into a ball.

The third stage Anaphase the cell starts to divide and in the final stage Telephase the cells separate. In the Mitosis lab an onion root was observed under a microscope. In observing the cell it was important to zoom in 40x to enlarge the root so each stage of the cell could be identified. In the stages of Mitosis the focus will be on cell division of the onion root and how many cells were found on the onion root.. “ If the number of cells is multiplied, then the cells completed Mitosis.

Materials and Methods microscope -slides onion root cover slip knife

In this lab we received one microscope per group. We needed to be sure the microscope was open to the widest setting and the focus was in. The next step was to cut a piece of onion root and place it on the slide and than to place a cover slip over the top of the slide. Next, we had to take a slide and place it on the microscope stage. We needed to use the adjustments on the microscope to zoom in and out to get a clear view of the onion root and bring the onion root into focus to be able to see the cells. Our focus was on the four stages of Mitosis, being Prophase, Metaphase, Anaphase and Telephase. After our observation we recorded the amount of cells in each stage.

Data and Results
The results when observing the onion root were as follows. The most cells that were counted were in the Prophase stage with 36, than the next was Anaphase at 23, next was Telephase with 20 and lastly Metaphase with 16. By looking at the results of the data the most cell division occurred in the prophase stage of the onion root . The least activity occurred in metaphase.

Conclusion
If the number of cells is multiplied then the cell has completed Mitosis. According to this hypothesis and and results of the data it has proven to be true. The hypothesis was supported by the data because the number of cells duplicated when we observed the onion root. The cell replicated and went through all the phases of mitosis. In this lab a source of error could have been the microscope and the person counting the cells in each of the phases. If the microscope was not on the correct power than the cells would not be identified or counted correctly. Secondly, if human error occurred it could have impacted the number of cells being counted.

Finally, the onion root does undergo mitosis because it goes through all four stages from the start being Prophase, the start of a cell changing to the next stage metaphase which the onion root completely goes through cell division than anaphase which is the middle part of the cells dividing and the final stage telephase where the cell completely replicated. So in conclusion the data supported the hypothesis proving that the onion root had gone through each stages of mitosis and in fact replicated.