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It selectively regulates the passage of substances into and out of the cell. It is a very important part of a cell.

the cell membrane holds all of the stuff inside of the cell. Also it shapes the cell that is how a animals cell is circled and a plants cell has squared cells.

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What cellular structures are present ONLY in an animal cell?

Cell Membrane


What is the physical boundary that separates the cell from the outside environment?

The cell membrane! also known as the plasma membrane. It is about 8 nm thick, and all cells have one! It is a semipermeable lipid bilayer. This means that it does not let all materials pass through it, generally only ones that are small and do not have a significant charge. The bilayer consists of phospholipid molecules where the phosphorus heads turn towards the outer environment and inner environment, and the hydrophobic lipid tails turn in towards each other. The membrane may also have membrane proteins that may be either integral or peripheral, and cholesterol molecules. There may be filaments and tubules that help support the cell in the extra cellular matrix. Some cells may have a cell wall that surrounds their cell membrane.


What keeps a cell membrane constantly moving around a cell?

A cell membrane is mostly a film of lipid molecules enclosing a volume of liquid. The lipid film is in a fluid-like phase, and thus the molecules are always in motion. All molecules are subject to the laws of thermodynamics, including the lipids in a cellular membrane. Unless matter is frozen to -273 degrees Celsius, there will always be some movement.


Why isnt cellular energy required for the passenger molecule to be carried across the cell membrane by the carrier molecule?

Because of facilitated diffusion(, which nutralizes it from a higher to a lower concentration.)


What structure forms the outside boundary of a human body cell?

The outer cell wall may be composed of glucans - sugar based layers, or poly-muco-saccarides, or glycoproteins.Interestingly, while different cell types have different outer boundaries, they all have the same inner boundary: the bi-lipid layer called the cell membrane.