Cells divide at different rates. The fastest bacteria can divide every 20 minutes. No wonder you can feel sick with food poisoning within hours of eating undercooked food! On the other hand, some nerve cells in your body do not divide much at all. The nerve cells in a 100-year old person could be close to 100 years old.

Read the examples of cell division. Drag each sentence into the correct box.

A plant produces pollen cells with half the chromosomes of the parent cells. A bacterium divides to make two identical daughter cells. A skin cell divides rapidly to replace tissue damaged by a scrape. A cell duplicates its genetic material once and then divides twice to make 4 daughter cells.
Meiosis Mitosis