A cell is the smallest unit of a living thing and is the basic building block of all organisms. State the general characteristics of a cell
Microscopes allow for magnification and visualization of cells and cellular components that cannot be seen with the naked eye. Compare and contrast light and electron microscopy.
Cell theory states that living things are composed of one or more cells, that the cell is the basic unit of life, and that cells arise from existing cells. Identify the components of cell theory
In a 1665 publication called Micrographia, experimental scientist Robert Hooke coined the term "cell" for the box-like structures he observed when viewing cork tissue through a lens. In the 1670s, van Leeuwenhoek discovered bacteria and protozoa. Later advances in lenses, microscope construction, and staining techniques enabled other scientists to see some components inside cells. By the late 1830s, botanist Matthias Schleiden and zoologist Theodor Schwann were studying tissues and proposed the unified cell theory. The unified cell theory states that: all living things are composed of one or more cells; the cell is the basic unit of life; and new cells arise from existing cells. Rudolf Virchow later made important contributions to this theory. Schleiden and Schwann proposed spontaneous generation as the method for cell origination, but spontaneous generation (also called abiogenesis) was later disproven. Rudolf Virchow famously stated "Omnis cellula e cellula"... "All cells only arise from pre-existing cells. "The parts of the theory that did not have to do with the origin of cells, however, held up to scientific scrutiny and are widely agreed upon by the scientific community today. The generally accepted portions of the modern Cell Theory are as follows:
Cell size is limited in accordance with the ratio of cell surface area to volume. Describe the factors limiting cell size and the adaptations cells make to overcome the surface area to volume issue
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