The Cell Comapred to a Factory

Job in the Factory | Cell Organelle | Function of the organelle |

Shipping/Receiving Department | Plasma membrane | Regulates what enters and leaves the cell; where cell makes contact with the external environment |

Chief Executive Officer (CEO) | Nucleus | Controls all cell activity; determines what proteins will be made |

Factory floor | Cytoplasm | Contains the organelles; site of most cell activity |

Assembly line (where workers do their work) | Endoplasmic Reticulum (ER) | Where ribosomes do their work |

Workers in the assembly line | Ribosomes | Build the proteins |

Finishing/packaging department | Golgi apparatus | Prepares proteins for use or export |

Maintenance crew | Lysosomes | Responsible for breaking down and absorbing materials taken in by the cell |

Support beams (walls, ceilings, floors) | Cytoskeleton | Maintains cell shape |

Power plant | Mitochondria/chloroplasts | Transforms one form of energy into another |

In a factory there are different departments and each department performs tasks that are interdependent. For comparison purposes the factory would be the cell and the departments would be the organelles.

To be a viable and safe factory the facility needs to have sturdy walls, floor and ceilings. Similarly, the cell creates a viable consistent space for its organelles through its cytoskeleton.

To run the departments in the factory power (electricity) is required. In the cell power (energy) is supplied by the mitochondria or chloroplasts.

The departments placement inside the factory space is like the organelles placement in the cytoplasm.

The factory management office where all factory decisions are made on what to manufacture would be similar to the nucleus in the cell where the determination is made on what proteins to produce.

The parts department acquires materials that will be modified to produce a new end product; this is similar to the lysosomes breaking down and absorbing materials taken in by the...