A harmonic balancer sounds like a crucial part on a spaceship in some pulpy 1950s sci-fi story, or something you need so you can play music with hobos when you're ridin' the rails. However, it's actually an important part on your engine that helps your crankshaft last as long as possible.
U.S. National Library of Medicine (5.00 / 1 vote) Rate this definition: Mitochondria. Semiautonomous, self-reproducing organelles that occur in the cytoplasm of all cells of most, but not all, eukaryotes. Each mitochondrion is surrounded by a double limiting membrane. The inner membrane is highly invaginated, and its projections are called cristae.
The mitochondrion (plural mitochondria) is a double membrane-bound organelle found in most eukaryotic cells. The word mitochondrion comes from the Greek Î¼Î¯ÏÎ¿Ï, mitos, i.e. thread, and ÏÎ¿Î½Î´ÏÎ¯Î¿Î½, chondrion, i.e. granule or grain-like.Mitochondria range from 0.5 to 1.0 Î¼m in diameter.or instance, red blood cells have no mitochondria, whereas liver cells can have more than 2000. The organelle is composed of compartments that carry out specialized functions. These compartments or regions include the outer membrane, the intermembrane space, the inner membrane, and the cristae and matrix.