What is the difference between Cilia and flagella?

Cilia are microscopic, hair-like structures or organelles that extend from the surface of mammal’s cells while flagella are a complex filamentous cytoplasmic structure protruding through the cell wall. Cilia are numerous while flagella are very few. Cilia occur all-round the cell surface while flagella are present at one or two ends or all over the surface.

Cilia is present in each cell, and each cell has hundreds of cilia while there are few flagella in each cell, sometimes less than 10. Cilia are found in Eukaryotic cells while flagella are found in Eukaryotic and prokaryotic cells.

Cilia beat in a coordinated rhythm either simultaneously or one after the other, while flagella beat independent of each other. Flagella move in a wave-like manner, undulating, slow, sinusoidal, while cilia rotate fast like a motor.

Two common parts of the living cells are cilia and flagella. Their functions are not totally specific for all organisms. For instance, in some organisms, cilia and flagella are used for locomotion, while they are used for other things like mating, feeds, in other organisms.

Cilia are hairlike organelles or structures projecting from a eukaryotic cell. The same definition also goes for flagella. However, you can easily differentiate the two by comparing their size. Here, the hairlike structures of cilia are smaller than that of flagella meaning that flagella are longer than cilia.

While cilia also help prevent dust from getting accumulated in the breathing tubes, flagella help the sperm cells to move. Most multicellular organisms use cilia for locomotion and other functions, whereas flagella are mostly seen in gametes. The proton-motive force of the plasma membrane is the main source of energy for flagella, whereas ‘kinesin’ is the main source of energy for cilia.

Cilia and flagella are structures that are on the cells. Their purpose is to help organisms with one cell move. They are structures that are apart of the prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells. One of the main differences between them is in regards to their length.

Flagella's are long, and they do not have an abundance of them. Flagella only have about one to eight in each cell. Cilia's are short, and each cell has hundreds of them. Another difference between them is what they are compiled of. Flagella includes the hook, filament, and basal body. Cilia is made of projections that resemble hair.

Cilia and flagella are small structures attached to eukaryotic and prokaryotic cells. These structures help in the movement of unicellular organisms. The chief difference between cilia and flagella is that the flagella are long and appear in one to eight per cell. The cilia are short and abundant in hundreds per cell. There are three major parts to the flagella, which includes the basal body, hook, and filament. Cilia are made up of small hair-like projections on the cell exterior.

Flagella are whip-like unbranched annexes that grow from the cell body. Many cilia are present in one cell, while flagella only come a few in a cell. Cilia beat in coordinated rhythms, while flagella beat independently.