L18. Mitosis in an onion root

Introduction: 

We did an experiment about the observation of mythosis in an onion root. Mitosis is the process in which a eukaryotic cell nucleus splits in two, followed by division of the parent cell into two daughter cells. 

Objectives: 

- View the different stages of a mitosis in the microscope. 

Materials: 

-Onion
-Orceine A and B 
-Dropper
-Watch glass
-Beaker
-Forceps
-Bunsen burner
-Lighter 

-Microscope
Procedure: 

1. A week ago we left an onion in a beaker with some water, (only the tip of the onion touched it) so its roots will grow so we can see the process of mitosis.
2. To start our experiment we took the onion and cut the tip of a root and put it in the watch glass.
3. Then with the dropper we took the orceine A and put some drops on the root and we took the watch glass with the wooden forceps and put it on the bunsen burner so the orceine and the root would heat. Some acid fumes began to evaporate. We had to be careful to not to burn the root so the watch glass could not be too hot, we should be able to touch it with our hand!!
4. After that we took the root with the forceps and put it on a slide and added a couple of drops of orceine B, we waited a couple of minutes.
5. Then with the scalpel we cut 3mm leaving the tip, and always knowing where the tip is. 
6. Finally we added a coverslip and used the squash method so we could observe the cells on the microscope.

Results:

Anaphase

Metaphase

Telophase and prophase