The Grand Cell Water Park

1
The Grand Cell Water Park

• The Most Popular Water Park In All Of North
  America
• The Grand Cell Water Park is the ultimate
  destination for water park lovers everywhere.
  Designed and created by Tyler Wright, it is of
  top quality and made with the most up-to-date
  standards in modern architecture and technology.
  The park and the attractions within it function
  similarly to a living cell and its organelles.
  Just like how the main job of the cell is to
  sustain life, the main job of this park is to
  provide entertainment for every person who steps
  foot within its walls.

2
Cell Membrane

• The Grand Cell Water Park is surrounded on all
  sides by a ten foot concrete wall with barbed
  wire at the top. There are various gates around
  the perimeter that serve as entrances and exits
  to the park. You must purchase a ticket in order
  to be let inside the gates. Tickets are taken at
  the gates by park officials. The officials decide
  if a person is allowed to enter or leave the
  park. This ensures the safety of the people
  within the park, which is a very high priority.

• The cell is surrounded by a phospholipid bilayer
  that is called the cell/plasma membrane. In much
  of the same way that the concrete wall defines
  the boundaries of the park, the cell membrane
  defines the cell boundary. It also regulates the
  passage of molecules into and out of the cell.
  This function corresponds with the function of
  the park officials at the gates and the ticket
  system. Only people with tickets can enter the
  park, and only certain molecules are allowed
  passage into the cell.

3
Nucleus

• The park is run by a large-scale computer system.
  The computer system is the parks command center,
  and it controls everything happening in the park.
  The system contains files with directions that
  say how everything in the park should be running.
  The computer system is located in a building
  roughly in the center of the park.

• The control center of the cell is the nucleus.
  The chromosomes in the nucleus contain the DNA
  that defines what the cell is and controls
  everything the cell does. This is similar to how
  the computer system contains files with
  directions for running the park. The nucleus is
  surrounded by a membrane called the nuclear
  envelope that protects the DNA inside. This
  membrane has the same function as the building
  that the computer system is in.

4
Endoplasmic Reticulum

• The main attraction here at The Grand Cell Water
  Park is the lazy river. The lazy river winds all
  about the park giving you an extensive tour as
  you pass through it. You can enjoy the calmness
  of the lazy river while floating on an inner tube
  by or while swimming on your own through the
  current. The lazy river takes the inner tubes to
  a large open pool where the tubes are sorted.

• The endoplasmic reticulum is a complicated system
  of membranous channels and saccules. It is the
  transportation network of the cell. Proteins
  (inner tubes) made by the ribosomes enter the
  endoplasmic reticulum where they begin to be
  processed and modified. The endoplasmic reticulum
  also transports the proteins to the Golgi complex.

5
Ribosomes

• The lazy river in the park is dotted with little
  stations or huts on one side of it. Park workers
  in the huts inflate inner tubes and put them in
  the river so that they can be used by visitors.
  Because there are many of these huts, there are
  always enough tubes for the people on the lazy
  river, and there are never people who want inner
  tubes without them.

• The rough endoplasmic reticulum in the cell is
  studded with ribosomes on the side of the
  membrane that faces the cytoplasm just as the
  lazy river is dotted with huts on one side. The
  function of the ribosomes is protein synthesis.
  Proteins made by the ribosomes move into the
  endoplasmic reticulum just as inflated inner
  tubes are put into the lazy river.

6
Golgi Complex

• At the end of the lazy river the inner tubes are
  all collected into a large open pool where they
  are sorted and made ready for transport. The
  inner tubes are then transported back to the huts
  where they are re-inflated and put back into the
  lazy river.

• The Golgi complex in a cell processes, packages,
  and distributes proteins about or from the cell.
  It transforms newly made proteins into functional
  ones. It does not work exactly the way the open
  pool does in the park because the proteins are
  not transported back to the ribosomes, they are
  actually secreted from the cell.

7
Lysosomes

• Throughout The Grand Cell Water Park there are
  many garbage cans, trash collection areas and
  recycling bins. This insures the cleanliness of
  the park and the proper disposal of waste.

• Lysosomes exist in all eukaryotic cells.
  Lysosomes contain enzymes that can digest almost
  anything in the cell. The main function of
  lysosomes is the breaking down of unnecessary
  materials.

8
Vacuoles

• There are various snack bars and fast food stands
  in the park. These satisfy the thirst and hunger
  of park visitors. There are a variety of food and
  beverage options available. Visitors with many
  varying tastes are kept satisfied.

• A vacuole is a large sac surrounded by a
  membrane. Vacuoles are used by the cell to store
  substances such as water, sugars, salts, and
  proteins. Just like in the park, there are
  numerous vacuoles in a cell.

9
Mitochondria

• In the interior of The Grand Cell Water Park
  there are power plants that supply the energy
  needed to run the park. This energy can be
  distributed throughout the park. Several power
  plants are necessary because there is a great
  deal of energy consumed in running the park.

• The primary function of the mitochondria within a
  cell is to provide energy by breaking down sugar
  into ATP. This is analogous to the power plants
  in the water park that produce energy to run the
  park. ATP is the form of usable energy for cells
  and the organelles within them. All
  energy-requiring processes within a cell use ATP.
  The production of ATP is called cellular
  respiration.

10
Cytoplasm

• The park grounds are pleasant for the visitors.
  Care has been taken in the design of the interior
  of the park so that getting around is easy and
  all visitors are comfortable. The park grounds
  encompass all areas within the concrete walls of
  the park.

• The cytoplasm is a semi-fluid (gel-like) medium
  that contains all the organelles in the cell. The
  reason the cytoplasm exists is so that the
  organelles maintain their positions in the cell.
  The cytoplasm is perfectly analogous to the park
  grounds because the park grounds contain all of
  the attractions within the park.