Practise Cell specialisation. 11 exam-style questions on this subtopic, at up to four difficulty levels, with full mark schemes and a progress tracker. Free, no account needed.
Written for this site in the style of AQA exam questions. They are not taken from real past papers.
Question 1Easy4 marks
Animals and plants contain specialised cells.
(a) Which cell is specialised to absorb water and mineral ions from the soil? Tick (✓) one box.[1]
Guard cell
Palisade cell
Root hair cell
Xylem cell
(b) Which cell carries electrical impulses around the body? Tick (✓) one box.[1]
Muscle cell
Nerve cell
Red blood cell
Sperm cell
(c) Sperm cells have a tail. Give the function of the tail.[1]
(d) Give one way a muscle cell is adapted to its function.[1]
Show the answer and mark scheme
(a)Answer: Root hair cell
(b)Answer: Nerve cell
(c)
to swim (to the egg)
(d)
contains many mitochondria (to release energy) / contains protein fibres that slide over each other to contract / can store glycogen
Question 2Medium6 marks
Root hair cells and xylem cells are specialised plant cells.
(a) Explain how the shape of a root hair cell helps it to absorb water.[2]
(b) Root hair cells contain many mitochondria. Explain why.[2]
(c) Xylem cells form long tubes that carry water through the plant. Give two ways that xylem cells are adapted to this function.[2]
Show the answer and mark scheme
(a)
the long hair / projection gives a large surface area
so more water is absorbed / water is absorbed faster (by osmosis)
(b)
mitochondria release energy by (aerobic) respiration
energy is needed for the active transport of mineral ions (from the soil)
(c)
the cells are dead / have no cytoplasm or nucleus
there are no end walls between the cells / they form continuous hollow tubes
the walls are strengthened with lignin
Question 3Hard8 marks
A giraffe has nerve cells that run from its spinal cord to the muscles in its legs. Some of these nerve cells are over 2 m long.
(a) Explain why it is an advantage for these nerve cells to be very long.[2]
(b) The ends of the nerve cells have many branches. Suggest one advantage of this.[1]
(c) Impulses travel along one of these nerve cells at 50 m/s. The nerve cell is 2.4 m long. Calculate the time taken for an impulse to travel the length of the nerve cell. Give your answer in milliseconds.[3]
(d) The endings of the nerve cells contain many mitochondria. Suggest why.[2]
Show the answer and mark scheme
(a)
impulses are carried over long distances (from the spinal cord to the leg muscles)
without passing through junctions / other cells, so impulses are fast
(b)
they can connect to / pass impulses to many (muscle) cells
(c)Answer: 48 ms
time = distance ÷ speed
(2.4 ÷ 50 =) 0.048 (s)
48 (ms)
(d)
mitochondria release energy by (aerobic) respiration
(energy is needed) to make / release the chemical (transmitter) that passes the impulse across the junction / synapse to the next cell