Strength between the Animal and the Plant Cell

[Oliver]

Please be nice, I'm not exactly the brightest star in the galaxy.

 

I've always wanted to know, what is stronger plant cell or animal cell?

 

It's pretty easy to break a plant in half but to rip the skin of a human you would need something sharp like a finger nail or a knife. Also the plant cell features a cell wall that gives support for the cell. Shouldn't the plant cell be stronger?

[Tolmosoff]

I think the plant cell would be harder once dryed to use as a bow and arro or the build your house that can last years.

 

Fleash once dead rots to dust but your house still stands.

[Mokele]

It depends what you mean by "stronger". Also by "cell".

 

To take the last bit first, cells are quite weak. The strength comes from substances cells build around them - cell walls in plants, extracellular matrix of various sorts in animals. Animal extracellular material can be anything from skin to collagen to bone to chitin to mollusc shell.

 

In terms of strength, generally wood falls right in the middle of various animal bits when loaded in tension (pulling), but only a few animal bits can resist compression (bone and shell). Wood tends to be able to 'spring back" more easily, though some animal tissues, such as skin and tendon, are better.