Question

In what way are human egg and sperm cells similar?

a) About the same number are produced each month.
b) About the same number are present in the body at birth.
c) They have the same number of chromosomes.
d) They have the same degree of motility.

Answer 1

Human egg and sperm cells are similar in that they both have the same number of chromosomes, which is half the number present in body cells, making them haploid gametes. The correct answer is c) They have the same number of chromosomes.

Step-by-step explanation:

Both sperm and egg cells are haploid gametes, meaning they each carry half the number of chromosomes compared to other body cells. Specifically, while regular body cells (somatic cells) are diploid and contain 46 chromosomes, both the sperm (male gamete) and the egg (female gamete) contain only one set of 23 chromosomes.

This allows for the formation of a zygote with the correct number of chromosomes when a sperm cell fertilizes an egg cell. This haploid nature of sperm and egg cells assures genetic diversity and proper chromosome number in the resulting offspring. Hence, c is the correct option.