Build a Cell Membrane (Brilliant Biology Experiments)

You will need:

1. 2 different-sized pipe cleaners
2. Drinking straw
3. Thick rubber bands
4. 50 cotton swabs/ear buds
5. Scissors
6. 1 marble
7. Small pellets (should pass through the straw)

Create a life-size model of the cell membrane to understand its functioning.

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Take all the ear buds and bunch them together.
   Tie a rubber band around them to keep in place.
2. Create receptors in the membrane by taking the pipe cleaners and inserting both into the bundle of ear buds.
3. Twist one pipe cleaner to make it circular and leave the other pipe straight.
4. Next, add the protein channels and pump onto the cell membrane, by cutting a straw in half and inserting both the halves into the bundle of ear buds.
5. Your cell membrane is ready. Holding the ear buds vertically, try placing a marble first on top of the ear buds and then on top of the straw.
6. Next try placing the pellet on top of the ear buds, and then on the drinking straw.
7. Holding the bundle vertically, place a palm below the bundle and blow air onto the ear buds. Holding the bundle in the same manner, blow air into the straw.

RESULT

The plasma membrane of the cells is created of double lipid molecules which are very flexible. The pipe cleaners represent carbohydrates which are found on the cell membrane along with cholesterol. In addition to them, there also exist proteins which work as a two-way link between the outside world and our bodies. These proteins (straw) receive and transmit signals from the outside world, and also transport nutrients and waste. All these components move about in the structure.