Life Process Class
Life Process Class
Life Process Class
10 Science Notes
● Nutrition: The process by which an organism takes food and utilizes it, is called
nutrition.
● Need for Nutrition: Organisms need the energy to perform various activities. The
energy is supplied by the nutrients. Organisms need various raw materials for
growth and repair. These raw materials are provided by nutrients.
● Nutrients: Materials which provide nutrition to organisms are called
nutrients. Carbohydrates, proteins and fats are the main nutrients and
are called macronutrients. Minerals and vitamins are required in small
amounts and hence are called micronutrients.
● Modes of Nutrition
1. Autotrophic Nutrition.
2. Heterotrophic Nutrition.
Nutrition in Plants: Green plants prepare their own food. They make food in the
presence of sunlight. Sunlight provides energy’, carbon dioxide and water are the
raw materials and chloroplast is the site where food is made.
What is Photosynthesis in biology class 10?
● During this process, the solar energy is converted into chemical energy
and carbohydrates are formed.
● Green leaves are the main site of photosynthesis.
● The green portion of the plant contains a pigment chloroplast,
chlorophyll (green pigment).
● The whole process of photosynthesis can be shown by the following
equation:
● Sunlight
● Chlorophyll: Sunlight absorbed by chloroplast
● CO2: Enters through stomata, and oxygen (O2) is released as a
byproduct through stomata on the leaf.
● Water: Water + dissolved minerals like nitrogen, phosphorous etc., are
taken up by the roots from the soil.
How do raw materials for photosynthesis become available to the plant?
● Water comes from the soil, through the xylem tissue in roots and
stems.
● Carbon dioxide comes in the leaves through stomata.
● Stomata: These are tiny pores present in the epidermis of leaf or stem
through which gaseous exchange and transpiration occur.
Functions of stomata
● Exchange of gases, O2 and CO2.
● Loses a large amount of water (water vapour) during transpiration.
Significance of Photosynthesis:
Nutrition in Amoeba
Human beings are complex animals, which have a complex digestive system. The
human digestive system is composed of an alimentary canal and some accessory
glands. The alimentary canal is divided into several parts, like oesophagus,
stomach, small intestine, large intestine, rectum and anus. Salivary gland, liver and
pancreas are the accessory glands which lie outside the alimentary canal.
● The mouth has teeth and tongue. Salivary glands are also present in the
mouth.
● The tongue has gustatory receptors which perceive the sense of taste.
● The tongue helps in turning over the food so that saliva can be properly
mixed in it.
● Teeth help in breaking down the food into smaller particles so that,
swallowing of food becomes easier.
● There are four types of teeth in human beings. The incisor teeth are
used for cutting the food.
● The canine teeth are used for tearing the food and for cracking hard
substances.
● The premolars are used for the coarse grinding of food. The molars are
used for fine grinding of food.
Salivary glands secrete saliva: Saliva makes the food slippery which makes it
easy to swallow the food. Saliva also contains the enzyme salivary amylase or
ptyalin. Salivary amylase digests starch and converts it into sucrose, (maltose).
Stomach
Liver: Liver is the largest organ in the human body. The liver manufactures bile,
which gets stored in the gall bladder. From the gall bladder, bile is released as and
when required.
No digestion takes place in the jejunum: The inner wall in the ileum is projected
into numerous finger-like structures, called villi. Villi increase the surface area
inside the ileum so that optimum absorption can take place. Moreover, villi also
reduce the lumen of the ileum so that food can stay for a longer duration in it, for
optimum absorption. Digested food is absorbed by villi.
Large Intestine:
Respiration: The process by which a living being utilises the food to get energy, is
called respiration. Respiration is an oxidation reaction in which carbohydrate is
oxidized to produce energy. Mitochondria is the site of respiration and the energy
released is stored in the form of ATP (adenosine triphosphate). ATP is stored in
mitochondria and is released as per need.
Steps of respiration:
● Breaking down of glucose into pyruvate: This step happens in the
cytoplasm. Glucose molecule is broken down into pyruvic acid.
Glucose molecule is composed of 6 carbon atoms, while pyruvic acid
is composed of 3 carbon atoms.
● Fate of Pyruvic Acid: Further breaking down of pyruvic acid takes
place in mitochondria and the molecules formed depend on the type of
respiration in a particular organism. Respiration is of two types, viz.
aerobic respiration and anaerobic respiration.
● Respiration involves
● Gaseous exchange: Intake of oxygen from the atmosphere
and release of CO2 → Breathing.
● Breakdown of simple food in order to release energy inside
the cell → Cellular respiration
Exchange of gases:
The human respiratory system is composed of a pair of lungs. These are attached to
a system of tubes which open on the outside through the nostrils.
Following are the main structures in the human respiratory system:
Breathing Mechanism
2. Arteries:
3. Veins:
Blood: Blood is a connective tissue which plays the role of the carrier for various
substances in the body. Blood is composed of 1. Plasma 2. Blood cells 3. Platelets.
Lymph:
Double circulation: In the human heart, blood passes through the heart twice in
one cardiac cycle. This type of circulation is called double circulation. One
complete heartbeat in which all the chambers of the heart contract and relax once is
called cardiac cycle. The heart beats about 72 times per minute in a normal adult.
In one cardiac cycle, the heart pumps out 70 mL blood and thus, about 4900 mL
blood in a minute. Double circulation ensures complete segregation of oxygenated
and deoxygenated blood which is necessary for optimum energy production in
warm-blooded animals.
Ascent of sap: The upward movement of water and minerals from roots to
different plant parts is called ascent of sap. Many factors are at play in ascent of
sap and it takes place in many steps. They are explained as follows :
● Root pressure: The walls of cells of root hairs are very thin. Water
from soil enters the root hairs because of osmosis. Root pressure is
responsible for movement of water up to the base of the stem.
● Capillary action: A very fine tube is called capillaiy, water, or any
liquid, rises in the capillary because of physical forces and this
phenomenon is called capillary action. Water, in stem, rises up to some
height because of capillaiy action.
● Adhesion-cohesion of water molecules: Water molecules make a
continuous column in the xylem because of forces of adhesion and
cohesion among the molecules.
● Transpiration pull: Loss of water vapour through stomata and lenticels,
in plants, is called transpiration. Transpiration through stomata creates
vacuum which creates a suction, called transpiration pull. The
transpiration pull sucks the water column from the xylem tubes and
thus, water is able to rise to great heights in even the tallest plants.
● Transport of food: Transport of food in plants happens because of
utilization of energy. Thus, unlike the transport through xylem, it is a
form of active transport. Moreover, the flow of substances through
phloem takes place in both directions, i.e., it is a two-way traffic in
phloem.
Transpiration is the process of loss of water as vapour from aerial parts
of the plant.
Functions
Transport of food from leaves (food factory) to different parts of the plant is called
Translocation.
Kidney:
Nephron
Urine formation in the kidney: The urine formation involves three steps:
Urine produced in the kidneys passes through the ureters into the urinary bladder
where it is stored until it is released through the urethra.
The purpose of making urine is to filter out waste product from the blood i.e., urea
which is produced in the liver.
Excretion in Plants
● Other wastes may be stored in leaves, bark etc. which fall off from the
plant.
● Plants excrete some waste into the soil around them.
● Gums, resin → In old xylem
● Some metabolic wastes in the form of crystals of calcium oxalates in
the leaves of colocasia and stem of Zamikand.
Autotrophs: It is a mode of nutrition in which organisms can make their own food
from simple raw material. Example, all green plants.
Photosynthesis: It is the process by which green plants prepare their own food.
Teeth: An organ which breaks down the complex food and helps in chewing the
food.
● Milk teeth: The first set of 20 small teeth when the baby is 6-7 months
old.
● Permanent teeth: The second set of 32 larger teeth, when a child is 6-
7 years old and comes by replacing milk teeth.
Tongue: A muscular organ attached to the floor of the buccal cavity which helps
in tasting and mixing the food with saliva for digestion.