Cell Unit Study - Week 4 - Cell Walls

Week 4: We built cell walls.

Cell walls are made up of phospholipids, which are a type of fatty acid. They are made from a carbon chain, plus a glycerol, and a phosphorus containing molecule. I learned that from the book The Way We Work by David Macaulay. We are following the Building Life section, page by page to learn about cells.

Last week we put our atoms together to construct molecules. One molecule we made was a carbon chain. It contained carbon atoms (orange gumdrops) linked together in a chain with hydrogen atoms (red gumdrops) attached to each carbon.

Since the cell walls would be very large if we continued to build individual atoms, this week the candy pieces represent molecules. The gummy worms are phospholipid carbon chains, the green gummy bears are glycerol molecules and the white gumdrops are phosphorus containing molecules.

Two phospholipids attach to a glycerol, which attaches to a phosphorus containing molecule to create a fatty acid, the basis for the wall.

When water is added, as in the above photo, it is attracted to the head end.

Mixing water and the fatty acids, the result is a group of molecules in which the tail ends attract each other and the head ends are on the top and bottom. This is a cross section of the cell wall. When many of these fatty acids and water are stacked together they form the cell membrane.

The kids are really enjoying these cell activities and even ask to do science. To see our other cell activities please check out our science page.

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