Biology Student Textbook Grade 9 Part 1

Biology
Biology Biology
Student Textbook
Student Textbook Student Textbook
Grade 9 Grade 9
Grade 9
Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia ISBN 978-99944-2-008-7

FDRE
Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia
Ministry of Education Price: ETB 36.00 MoE Ministry of Education
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Biology
Student Textbook
Grade 9
Author: Ann Fullick
Adviser: Alemu Asfaw
Evaluators: Solomon Belayneh

Getachew Bogale
Silas Araya
Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia

Ministry of Education
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Contents
Unit 1 Biology and technology 1
1.1 Renowned Ethiopian biologists 1
1.2 Biological research in Ethiopia 7
Unit 2 Cell biology 13

2.1 The microscope 13
2.2 The cell 22
2.3 The cell and its environment 33
Unit 3 Human biology and health 50

3.1 Food and nutrition 51
3.2 The digestive system 69
3.3 The respiratory system 82
3.4 Cellular respiration 99
3.5 The circulatory system 104
Unit 4 Micro-organisms and disease 123

4.1 Micro-organisms 124
4.2 Diseases 137
4.3 HIV and AIDS 158
Unit 5 Classification 171

5.1 Principles of classification 171
5.2 The five kingdoms 178
Unit 6 Environment 200

6.1 Ecosystems 200
6.2 Food relationships 204
6.3 Recycling in nature 212
6.4 Adaptations 218
6.5 Tree-growing project 223
Index 226
Grade 9 iii


Biology and technology Unit 1
Contents
Section Learning competencies
1.1 Renowned Ethiopian • Name at least one renowned Ethiopian biologist.
biologists (page 1) • Explain the contributions of these Ethiopian biologists to
international biological knowledge.
1.2 Biological research • Explain how scientific institutions contribute to scientific research.
in Ethiopia • Name some Ethiopian institutions involved in biological research.
(page 7) • Explain the activities and contributions of some of these Ethiopian
research institutions.
1.1 Renowned Ethiopian biologists
By the end of this section you should be able to:

• Name at least one renowned Ethiopian biologist.
• Explain the contributions of these Ethopian biologists to
international biological knowledge.
Welcome to the study of biology! Biology is the study of life and

living organisms. All around you there are many different types of
plants, animals and other living organisms. They depend on each
other and on the environment where they live. Biologists study both
the outer appearance and the internal workings of living things.
They study how living organisms interact and where human beings
fit into the living world.
All of our biological knowledge comes to us by the work of
biologists, scientists who study living organisms. Biology, like all
the sciences, moves forward most of the time in small, steady steps.
One biologist comes up with an idea. Another carries out more
experiments, which either support the new idea or suggest it is
KEY WORDS
wrong. Then more biologists join in until eventually a new idea, or
hypothesis, is accepted. Like all scientists, biologists publish their hypothesis an idea or
new work (called research) in special magazines called journals. statement that explains
Before an idea is published in a journal, several other well-known observed facts and predicts
biologists have to read it and check that the research has been done new outcomes
to a high standard. This process is called peer review. Sometimes journal a regular
biology takes a great leap forward, when a very gifted biologist
publication presenting
comes along with a big new idea!
articles on a particular
If you think you would like to be such a biologist, start right now by subject
observing living things around you.
peer review evaluation of
Here in Ethiopia we have some very renowned biologists. Their a person’s work done by
work is known and important not just here in Ethiopia but around others in the same field
the world. Here are some of their biographies.
Grade 9 1
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Unit 1: Biology and technology
Dr Aklilu Lemma and the battle against bilharzia

(schistosomiasis)
Schistosomiasis (also known as bilharziasis) is a common parasitic
disease. It affects 200–300 million people in Africa (including
Ethiopia), South America, Asia and parts of the Caribbean. It is
caused by parasitic flatworms which spend part of their lifecycle in
freshwater snails and part in humans. Anyone washing, working
or playing in shallow fresh water is at risk. Once inside a person,
Figure 1.1 Highly magnified the parasites mature and produce eggs which are passed out in the
image of the parasitic flatworms urine and faeces. They also infest the blood vessels, liver, kidneys,
that cause schistosomiasis bladder and other organs. The body sets up an immune reaction
and an infected person can become weakened and ill for many
KEY WORDS years.
immune reaction a Some of the most important work in finding a way of controlling
biological response involving this parasite, which is effective but does not cost too much, was
the production of antibodies carried out by Dr Aklilu Lemma, one of Ethiopia’s most renowned
biologists.
etc. as a reaction to the
presence in the body of Dr Aklilu began his work in 1964, when he was investigating the
bacteria, a poison, or a freshwater snails that carry the schistosomiasis parasite around
transplanted organ Adwa in northern Ethiopia. He saw women washing clothes in the
water and he noticed that downstream of the washing party there
treated water filtered or were more dead snails than anywhere else he had collected. The
disinfected water made safe women were using the soapberry, Endod (Phytolacca dodecandra),
for consumption to make washing suds. Dr Aklilu collected some live snails from
genetic engineering above the washing party and asked one of the women to give him
the deliberate, controlled some of her Endod suds. Not long after the suds were put in the
manipulation of the genes snail container, the snails all died. This was the start of years of work
in an organism, with the for Dr Aklilu.
intent of making that Back in the laboratory he showed that if the Endod berries were
organism better dried, crushed and diluted in water they would kill snails at very low
concentrations. Other scientists carried out similar investigations
and got the same results. If the freshwater snails can be controlled,
the spread of schistosomiasis can be greatly reduced. The World
Health Organisation recommended a chemical molluscicide (i.e. a
compound that kills molluscs including snails) but it was extremely
expensive. Endod works well, it is cheap, it is well known by local
people who are likely to use it and it is environmentally friendly as
it breaks down naturally within about two days.
Dr Aklilu Lemma worked for many years to convince scientists all
around the world that his ideas would work. Trials using locally
collected Endod showed that using the molluscicide worked. Before
the water was treated, 50% of children 1–6 years old were infected.
After treatment only 7% were infected by the flatworm. Dr Aklilu’s
results were published in journals around the world. He found the
Figure 1.2 Dr Aklilu Lemma, best species of the soapberry plant and developed programmes for
one of Ethiopia’s most renowned local communities to treat their own water. Eventually people were
biologists, with the snail-killing convinced and the use of Endod-based molluscicides is spreading
soapberries known locally as throughout Africa and beyond. Hopefully a combination of Endod
Endod water treatment to kill the snails, improved hygiene, clean water
2 Grade 9

UNIT 1: Biology and technology
wells and medicine for affected people will mean that Ethiopia
Did you know?
can be free of this terrible disease. If we succeed it will be largely
due to the work of Dr Aklilu Lemma. He has been honoured and Around 300 million
recognised in many different ways both in Ethiopia and around the people are affected by
world for his work. schistosomiasis in the
tropical and sub-tropical
Dr Tewolde Berhan Gebre Egziabher, an ardent lover parts of the world – so the
work of Aklilu Lemma
of nature could make an enormous
Dr Tewolde Berhan Gebre Egziabher was born in 1940. In 2000 difference in many other
he won the Right Livelihood Award (often called the Alternative countries as well as Ethiopia.
Nobel Prize) “for his exemplary work to safeguard biodiversity and Dr Aklilu recognised this
the traditional rights of farmers and communities to their genetic when he said “we found a
resources”. poor man’s medicine for a
During the 1990s Dr Tewolde Berhan was involved in negotiations poor man’s disease”.
at the various biodiversity-related meetings, including the
Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and the Food and
Agriculture Organization. Having built a strong and able team
of African negotiators, he managed to help achieve progressive,
unified policies for Africa, such as recognition of community rights.
Dr Tewolde Berhan was instrumental in securing recommendations
from the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) encouraging African
countries to develop and implement community rights, a common
position on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights,
and a clear stance against patents on living materials. He also helped
to draft the OAU model legislation for community rights, which is
now used across Africa.
In January 2000 Dr Tewolde Berhan acted as chief negotiator on
biosafety for the Like-Minded Group, made up of most of the G77
countries, in Montreal. Here he was central to achieving an outcome
protecting biosafety and biodiversity and respecting community Figure 1.3 Dr Tewolde Berhan
rights, against strong US-led representations. Gebre Egziabher
Dr Tewolde Berhan also won the United Nations top environmental
prize, Champions of the Earth, in 2006.
Professor Tilahun Yilma and his vaccines

Professor Tilahun Yilma is known internationally for the vaccine
he developed to help get rid of the terrible cattle disease rinderpest,
and for his work on HIV/AIDS vaccines. Rinderpest arrived in
Ethiopia in 1888, carried by three infected cattle brought into the
country by Italian soldiers. Within a year 90% of the domestic cattle
plus many wild animals such as buffalo, giraffe and antelope died.
As a result 30–60% of the people starved.
In the 1980s rinderpest became a major problem again. Professor
Tilahun worked to develop a vaccine using genetic engineering.
He was very successful – his vaccine doesn’t need refrigeration, it is
easily scratched onto the animal’s neck or abdomen so cattle don’t
need injections from vets and it can be made relatively cheaply in Figure 1.4 Professor Tilahun
large quantities. By 1997 the vaccine was ready for use across Africa, Yilma
Grade 9 3

including his own country Ethiopia. Now he is working on using

similar methods to develop an effective vaccine against HIV/AIDS,
which is affecting people all around the world including millions
of Africans. Professor Tilahun has been given many international
awards and honours over the years. He is also very active in
encouraging young scientists and establishing the highest quality
research establishments here in Africa.
Professor Yalemtsehay Mekonnen: The first female

professor from AAU
Professor Yalemtsehay Mekonnen is a biologist and an academic
member of staff at the Department of Biology, Faculty of Science,
Addis Ababa University. She has worked in this Department for
the last 30 years. She received her PhD, specialising in human
physiology, from the University of Heidelberg in Germany.
Figure 1.5 Professor Yalemtsehay One of her research areas is the assessment of the impact of
Mekonnen working in the chemical pesticide hazard on humans. This research covers almost
Biomedical Laboratory, Addis all government farms including the Upper Awash Agricultural
Ababa University farms and some private horticultural farms in the Rift Valley region.
The other area of her research is in the use of plants as medicine
against human and animal diseases.
Professor Yalemtsehay Mekonnen served as Head of the
Department of Biology from 1993 to 1995 and as the Director of
the Aklilu Lemma Institute of Pathobiology from February 2003
to October 2007. In leadership positions she was involved and has
initated a number of national and international research networks
and collaborations. She is a member of many professional societies,
such as the Biological Society of Ethiopia, the Safe Environment
Association, the Ethiopian Wildlife and Natural History Society, the
New York Academy of Sciences and the Third World Organization
for Women in Science. She has served as President of the Biological
Society of Ethiopia.
She has been awarded research grants and fellowships nationally
from the Ethiopian Science and Technology Commission and the
Ethiopian Agricultural Research Organization, and internationally
from the British Council, the International Foundation for Science,
Third World Academy of Sciences, the German Academic Exchange
Service and the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation from
Germany.
Dr Melaku Worede
Dr Melaku Worede was born in 1936 and he has worked for many
years to save the genetic diversity of Ethiopia’s domestic plants.
He is an internationally acclaimed plant genetics researcher.
Dr Melaku set up the Plant Genetic Resources Centre in Addis
Ababa. Our country is noted for its great genetic diversity but
Figure 1.6 Dr Melaku Worede, an modern farming methods and problems such as drought can
internationally acclaimed plant affect this badly. Dr Melaku Worede has preserved many different
genetics researcher traditional crop varieties and developed ways of farming that
4 Grade 9

produce high yields without commercial fertilisers. Dr Worede’s

methods are now widely used both in other areas of Africa and
in Asia. He was the first chair of the African Committee for Plant
and Genetic Resources and has been Chair of the United Nations
Food and Agriculture Organisation’s Commission on Plant Genetic
Resources. He has also won the Right Livelihood Award (often
called the Alternative Nobel Prize) in 1989 for outstanding vision
and work and in 2008 he received the Outstanding International
Contribution Award from the National Green Award Foundation.
Dr Gebissa Ejeta
When Dr Gebissa Ejeta was born in a small rural village his mother
was determined her son would receive a good education. He walked
20 miles to school every Sunday evening, returning home on Friday
after a week of studying. It all paid off as he gained a place at Jimma
Agricultural and Technical School and then Alemaya College
where he took his first degree. He specialises in plant breeding and
genetics. Dr Gebissa Ejeta did his research on sorghum – he got
his PhD from Purdue University in the USA where he still holds a
professorship. He has helped to develop Africa’s first commercial
hybrid strain of sorghum. This not only needs less water and so is
Figure 1.7 Dr Gebissa Ejeta who
resistant to drought, but it also yields more grain than traditional
has been honoured for his work
varieties. Dr Gebissa Ejeta developed other strains of sorghum
in developing new, high yielding
which are also resistant to the parasitic Striga weed, which can
strains of sorghum which grow
destroy a big percentage of a crop. Dr Ejeta’s work has made a very
well in our conditions
big difference to the food availability in many areas of Ethiopia and
other African countries – his varieties yield up to ten times more
than the original strains. In 2009 Dr Gebissa Ejeta was awarded the
World Food Prize, which is the most important agricultural prize
in the world! He has also been awarded the National Hero award of
Ethiopia for his work in science and technology.
These are just some of many renowned Ethiopian biologists who
have carried out work of great value both in our own country and
across the world. You will have the opportunity to find out more
about some of the other scientists with your teacher in activity 1.1.
Here are some more examples of Ethiopian biologists.
• Professor Beyene Petros is a biomedical scientist and long
serving professor at Addis Ababa University. Professor Beyene
Petros, in addition to his distinguished academic career, served
as Chairman, Advisory Committee on Health Research and
Development, WHO/AFRO, 1997–2000; as vice minster of
Education (1991–1993) and many other scientific societies. He
has produced more than 43 publications in reputable scientific
journals and Published books. Professor Beyene has won Gold
Medal Award from Ethiopian Health Association; Fellowships
from Fulbright and from Centers for disease control and
prevention, Atlanta, USA.
• Professor Sebsebe Demissew is a plant taxonomist. He is now
the Director of the National Herbarium and the leader of the
Ethiopian Flora Project (EFP).
Grade 9 5

• Dr Zeresenay Alemseged discovered a 3.3 million-year-old

Activity 1.1: Discovering
humanoid child fossil in 2006.
Ethiopian biologists
• Dr Tsehaynesh Meselle was the Director General of the Ethiopian
It is inspiring to know what Health and Nutrition Research Institute (EHNRI) during
great work is being done the writing of this book and leads research in human health,
by Ethiopian biologists including HIV/AIDS.
today. Here you have the • Dr Berhane Asfaw is an Ethiopian scientist whose team
opportunity to do some
discovered two 160 000-year-old human skulls, some of the
research and find out about
oldest that have ever been found. His discoveries were published
some of the people who
in the famous scientific journal Nature. They have had a great
are active in biology in our
impact on the study of human evolution around the world.
country.
• Professor Legesse Negash is a Professor of Plant Physiology in
• You can choose a
the Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, Addis Ababa
biologist from the list
University. He is a pioneer in the propagation of Ethiopia’s
on pages 5 and 6, find
indigenous trees and is the Founder and Leader of the Center
out more about one of
for Indigenous Trees Propagation and Biodiversity Development
the biologists already
in Ethiopia. Professor Negash is a winner of several awards,
mentioned in this chapter
including that from the Stockholm-based International
or write about a biologist
Foundation for Science.
you have discovered for
yourself. If you look at • Professor Mogessie Ashenafi works at the University of Addis
the research institutions Ababa and leads international research into food microbiology.
mentioned in the rest • Professor Ensermu Kelbessa is one of the leading systematic
of this chapter you will botanists who has discovered and named many new plants.
be able to find lots of
Ethiopian biologists to
choose from! Review questions
• Use any resources you Select the correct answer from A to D.
have available. You may 1. Biology is:
find out about Ethiopian A the study of matter
biologists in books, B the study of life and living organisms
magazines, journals,
leaflets, in the news or C the study of how living organisms interact
even on the internet if it D the study of the way atoms and molecules react together
is available. 2. Bilharzia is caused by:
• Write a report about your A snails
biologist and prepare to B bacteria
give a brief talk on him C viruses
or her to the rest of the
class. D parasitic flatworms
3. Dr Tewolde Berhan Gebre Egziabher is a biologist who
researches into:
A HIV/AIDS
B genetic engineering
C environmental protection and diversity
D human evolution
6 Grade 9

1.2 Biological research in Ethiopia

• Explain how scientific institutions contribute to scientific
research.
• Name some Ethiopian institutions involved in biological
research.
• Explain the activities and contributions of some of these
Ethiopian research institutions.
Biologists, like other scientists, do not work alone. A biologist needs

equipment, laboratories and other biologists to discuss ideas with
and develop theories. Biologists work in many different areas, from
plants to animals, and from medicine to classification and genetics.
Ethiopia has a number of well-known institutions that are involved
in biological research. Our country continues to invest in these
institutions and to develop more. Our biologists have international
reputations in many fields. Biologists from other African nations
and from other continents come to our institutions to take part in
the research programmes, and our biologists also travel to other
countries. Sharing knowledge across the world is an important part
of science and Ethiopia plays her part in this.
Here are some of the institutions that play an important part in
biological research in Ethiopia.
Addis Ababa University (AAU) Biology Department

Addis Ababa University (AAU) is a very large university with
an international reputation and the Biology Department is no
exception. A top university, AAU is one of the major centres of
biological research in the country and it is also home to the Aklilu
Lemma Institute of Pathobiology (see the next page).
The university entrance is impressive and the Department of
Biology contains much modern and high-level equipment to help Figure 1.8 Addis Ababa
biologists in their research. University is home to much
Addis Ababa University is not the only renowned university in internationally recognised
Ethiopia. There are many others, including Haramaya University, research.
Mekelle University, Jimma University, Hawassa University, Gonder
University and Bahir Dar University. They all have active biology
departments where teaching and research takes place.
Grade 9 7

Armauer Hansen Research Institute (AHRI)

When Armauer Hansen Research Institute (AHRI) was first set
up in 1969 it was sited next to a big hospital dedicated to patients
with leprosy and it carried out research only into leprosy. However,
in the years since 1969 leprosy has become a disease that we can
treat quite effectively. Since 1996 AHRI has widened its research to
include tuberculosis (TB, which has become a big threat with the
rise in HIV/AIDS), leishmaniasis, malaria and HIV/AIDS, as well
as leprosy.
Aklilu Lemma Institute of Pathobiology (ALIPB)

The department of pathobiology at Addis Ababa University has
been renamed the Aklilu Lemma Institute of Pathobiology (ALIPB)
in honour of Professor Aklilu Lemma (see page 2). The institute
sets out to be a centre of excellence for biomedical research and
training. ALIPB carries out research in five major areas. They have
Figure 1.9 The AHRI buildings a microbiology research programme into the major infectious
and some of the workers who diseases, they look into vectors of diseases and how to control them,
work there some of the biologists are focused on human parasitic diseases
and others work on animal health and disease. Finally, some of the
biologists are carrying out research into Endod and other plants,
which may be useful as medicines. The institute also plays an
important role in training new Ethiopian pathobiologists. Students
with a first degree in biomedical sciences (i.e. biology, human
medicine, veterinary medicine, laboratory technology) can apply
to do a Masters degree in tropical and infectious diseases at the
institute.
Ethiopian Health and Nutrition Research Institute

(EHNRI)
The Ethiopian Health and Nutrition Research Institute (EHNRI) is
an organisation that carries out research into health and nutrition
issues which affect public health. Its role is both to identify
problems and to help everyone in the country become aware of
how to overcome the problems and improve their levels of nutrition
and health. The laboratory facilities at EHNRI are good and are
well equipped for research into immunology and viral diseases.
At the moment EHNRI is carrying out a lot of work into HIV/
AIDS in Ethiopia. For example, biologists working with EHNRI
are following the progression of HIV/AIDS in two populations of
factory workers (about 2000 people) over a long period of time –
the research began in 1994! They are planning to work with more
people in the future, and are also hoping to set up trials of a possible
HIV vaccine. EHNRI is also very active in the battle against TB
and it houses the National TB Reference Laboratory. It is involved
in rapid diagnosis of TB. EHNRI is also involved in many other
projects including issues such as the nutritional state of mothers
and babies in the country as well as infectious diseases.
8 Grade 9

Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research (EIAR)

also known as Institute of Agricultural Research (IAR)
Agriculture – farming crops and livestock – is the life force of our
country. We must grow food to eat. The EIAR (IAR) is the institute
where biologists with a passion for improving agriculture and
supporting everyone who cultivates the land or raises livestock in
Ethiopia carry out research.
There are five main areas of research. Biologists working on crop
technology are working to help us achieve food security and Figure 1.10 Farming is vital to
nutritional quality, so that we always have sufficient food. They Ethiopia. Biologists with the EIAR
are looking at different crops and ways of improving the crops work hard to improve our crops,
we already grow. Other biologists are focusing on our livestock, our animals and our soil.
looking at ways of managing our animals’ breeding and feeding
programmes to make sure that they grow as quickly and as well Did you know?
as possible. They also look at ways of improving the health of our
Farming is vital to
livestock.
Ethiopia. About 90% of
Biologists working on crop technology have improved crops like our exports and around
maize, teff and sorghum. Two of these are shown here. 80% of our economy
Another important area of research is with regard to the soil and depends on agriculture.
water. Biologists are looking into ways of improving the fertility of
the soil, particularly ways of avoiding buying expensive inorganic
fertilisers. Other scientists are also looking at ways to water the
land more effectively. Forestry is also an area of research. Biologists
are very involved in rehabilitating, restoring and conserving some
of our forest ecosystems. Finally, the institute also looks at ways of
mechanising farming. Biologists research into the species of crop
plants that are most suitable for mechanised harvesting.
The Institute of Biodiversity Conservation (IBC)

Biodiversity – the range of living organisms in an area – is
internationally recognised as one of the biggest issues in biology
today. Here in Ethiopia we have a tremendous range of biodiversity,
particularly in our plants. There are also many species which are
found only in Ethiopia (endemic). So in world terms, when it was Figure 1.11 An agronomist
decided to set up gene banks to conserve the genetic material of as examining sorghum crop
many plants as possible, Ethiopia was given the highest priority. The
Institute of Biodiversity Conservation (IBC) started off conserving
the genes of Ethiopian plants. Now the institute is involved in
the conservation of plants, animals and micro-organisms in
Ethiopia. Research into the management of the ecosystem is also an
important part of the work.
Current research in the IBC looks at many areas including forest
and aquatic plants, medicinal plants, animal genetic resources,
biotechnology and safety, and ecosystem conservation. The institute Figure 1.12 Scientists have
also holds one of the leading gene banks in the whole of Africa with improved crop production of
over 300 plant species represented. Quncho, an improved teff. It is a
hybrid crop now yielding more
than 30 quintals per hectare.
Grade 9 9

Activity 1.2: Discovering Activity 1.3: Making a table of research institutions

more about research in Make a table to summarise the biological research institutions
Ethiopia in Ethiopia that are mentioned in this book. Add any that you
There are many great or your classmates have discovered. Draw a table as shown
institutions in Ethiopia below and complete it:
carrying out biological
research. You have learnt a Institution Focus of research
little about some of them.
Now you can find out more.
• Investigate the biology
department at the
university nearest to
your school or any other
institution with biologists
working there. Find out
as much as you can about
the research they carry
out and the biologists
who are there.
• Investigate one other Review questions
biological research
Select the correct answer from A to D.
institution in Ethiopia.
You may choose to 1. EHNRI carries out research into:
find out more about A health and nutrition issues
one of the institutions
B farming
highlighted in this book
or you may find another C biodiversity
different one. D soil and water
• Use any resources you 2. Before it widened its research the Armauer Hansen Research
have available. You may Institute studied only:
use books, magazines, A HIV/AIDS
journals, leaflets,
B tuberculosis
university prospectuses
or reports in the news or C leprosy
even on the internet, if it D cervical cancer
is available. 3. ALIPB is world-renowned for research into:
• Write a report about your A different diseases and their control
local university biology
B improved agricultural practices
department and one
other Ethiopian research C human evolution
institute and prepare to D environmental conservation
give a brief talk on them
to the rest of the class.
10 Grade 9

Summary
In this unit you have learnt that:
• Biology is the study of life and living organisms.
• Scientific research is based on the ideas of scientists. They
design experiments to test these ideas. Results of these
experiments are published in peer-reviewed journals, which
are read by scientists around the world.
• Ethiopia has some renowned biologists whose work is known
both in Ethiopia and internationally. They include Dr Aklilu
Lemma, Professor Tilahun Yilma, Professor Yalemtsehay
Mekonnen, Dr Melaku Worede, Dr Legesse Woldeyes,
Dr Gebissa Ejeta, Dr Berhane Asfaw, Professor Legesse
Negash, Professor Mogessie Ashenafi, Professor Ensermu
Kelbessa and many others.
• Most biological research is linked to a research institution
that has the facilities which are needed. There are a number
of well-known Ethiopian biological research institutions.
End of unit questions

1. a) Name two Ethiopian biologists who have made
internationally recognised contributions in their field.
b) Describe the main work of both of the biologists you have
chosen and explain why it is so important.
2. What are the main advantages of using Endod in the battle
against bilharzia?
3. Why is Professor Yalemtsehay Mekonnen internationally
renowned?
4. What is rinderpest?
5. Why is the work of Dr Gebissa Ejeta so important?
6. Why are scientific institutions important to biological research?
7. a) Name three institutions involved in different types of
biological research in Ethiopia.
b) Summarise the areas of biological research carried out by
each institution.
Grade 9 11

Copy the crossword puzzle below into your exercise book (or your
teacher may give you a photocopy) and solve the numbered clues to
complete it.
1
3 4

Across
2 Professor Tilahun Yilma developed a vaccine against this
disease (10)
4 The Ethiopian scientist who has helped make food more
available with his new breeds of sorghum is Dr Gebissa ***** (5)
7 What type of trees are planted in Ethiopia by
Professor Legesse Negash? (10)
8 The Armauer Hansen Research Institute (4)
9 The surname of the Ethiopian scientist who discovered a way
to prevent bilharzia (5)
Down
1 A new scientific idea (10)
3 What is studied at the EIAR (IAR)? (11)
5 What is the name of the plant which kills the snails which cause
bilharzia? (5)
6 What do we call a special magazine where scientists publish
their research? (7)
12 Grade 9

Cell biology Unit 2
Contents
2.1 The microscope • Name different types of microscopes.
(page 13) • Distinguish between the magnification and resolution of a microscope.
• State the functions of different types of microscopes.
• Compare the different resolutions and dimensions of light and electron
microscopes.
• Explain and demonstrate basic techniques using a light microscope.
• Explain the purpose of staining cells.
• Use the microscope to study cells.
• Compare the way materials are prepared for the electron microscope and
the light microscope.
2.2 The cell • State the cell theory.
(page 22) • List the structures of cells and describe their function.
• Draw and label diagrams and compare typical plant and animal cells.
• Describe the types, shapes and sizes of a variety of cells using diagrams.
2.3 The cell and • Describe the permeability of the cell membrane.
its environment • Describe the process of diffusion and its importance in living organisms.
(page 33) • Demonstrate diffusion experimentally.
• Explain the process of osmosis and its importance in living organisms.
• Demonstrate osmosis experimentally.
• Show that plant cells become flaccid when they lose water and turgid
when they absorb water by osmosis.
• Explain plasmolysis and turgor pressure.
• Explain passive and active transport across cell membranes.
• Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of diffusion, osmosis and
active transport for moving substances into and out of cells.
2.1 The microscope

• Name different types of microscopes.
• Distinguish between the magnification and resolution of a microscope.
• State the functions of different types of microscopes.
• Compare the different resolutions and dimensions of light and electron microscopes.
• Explain and demonstrate basic techniques using a light microscope.
• Explain the purpose of staining cells.
• Use the microscope to study cells.
• Compare the way materials are prepared for the electron microscope and the light microscope.
Grade 9 13

UNIT 2: Cell biology
Biologists use different tools to help them study living organisms.

Did you know?
One of the most important is the microscope. Many important
The largest single cell in organisms are very small and biologists need to be able to see them.
the world is an ostrich The building blocks of life are called cells and scientists need to be
egg – they are about able to see cells to understand living organisms. Most cells cannot
18 cm long and weigh be seen without some kind of magnification. You will be discovering
around 1.2 kg. Most cells the secrets of cells revealed with the help of a microscope. In this
are much harder to see! section you will learn more about microscopes and how they work.
In the next section you will be learning more about the structure of
cells and how they work.
Seeing cells
There are some cells that can be seen very easily with the naked
eye. Unfertilised birds eggs are single cells, most cells are much
smaller than this. Everything we know about the structure of cells
has depended on the development of the microscope. For over
300 years we have been able to look at cells, and as microscopes
have improved, so has our knowledge and understanding of cell
structure. There are two main types of microscopes in use, the light
microscope and the electron microscope. The light microscope
uses a beam of light to form the image of an object, while the
electron microscope uses a beam of electrons to form an image. You
are going to learn about both.
Figure 2.1 Ostrich with eggs
Magnification and resolving power
The reason microscopes are so useful is because they magnify
KEY WORDS things, making them look bigger. Magnification means increasing
microscope an instrument the size of an object. The best light microscopes will magnify up
for magnifying specimens to around 2000 times. Light microscopes have given us a lot of
information about the structure of cells, but in the last 50 years or
light microscope a so we have also been able to use electron microscopes. An electron
microscope that uses a microscope can give you a magnification of around 2 000 000 times.
beam of light to form the Using electron microscopes makes it possible for us to learn a lot
image of an object more about cells and the ways in which they become specialised for
electron microscope a particular functions.
microscope that uses a The biggest problem with the light microscope is the limited detail
beam of electrons to form it can show. There is a minimum distance between two objects for
an image them to be seen clearly as separate. If they are closer together than
magnification increase the this they are seen as one thing. This distance is known as the limit
size of an object of resolution. Resolution is the ability to distinguish between two
separate points and it is the resolving power of a microscope that
resolution ability to
affects how much detail it can show. The greater the resolving power
distinguish between two of the microscope, the more detail it can show. For the optical light
separate points microscope the limit of resolution is approximately 200 nanometres
resolving power how much (1 nm = 1 × 10–9 m). In comparison, the human eye can only resolve
detail the microscope is down to about 0.1 mm (1 mm = 1 × 10–2 m) (see figure 2.2). Objects
able to show closer than 0.1 mm are seen as one by human eyes.
The magnification we can get with a light microscope is limited by
the resolving power possible using the wavelength of light. To see
14 Grade 9

more detail clearly we need an electron microscope where an electron

Did you know?
beam is used to make the image. As the wavelength gets smaller, the
resolving power is increased. An electron microscope has a resolving If you magnified an
power around a thousand times better than a light microscope, about average person by the
0.3 nm. Objects that are 0.3 nm apart can be seen as separate by an same amount as the best
electron microscope, demonstrating that the resolving power of an light microscopes (×2000)
electron microscope is greater than that of a light microscope. they would be about 3.5
kilometres tall. Magnified
by an electron microscope
Functions of different types of microscopes (×2 000 000), the average
person becomes about
We will now look in more detail at the different types of microscope 3500 kilometres tall!
and how they are used.
The light microscope KEY WORD

To look at a biological specimen using a light microscope you will stains chemicals added to
often use a slide of cells, tissues or individual organisms. These are slide tissues to make the
often very thin slices of biological material that have been specially cells easier to see
treated and stained, but you can look at living material directly
through a light microscope as well. Often chemicals known as
stains are added to the tissue on the slide to make it easier to see
particular cells, or parts of a cell. When you are looking at stained
cell samples it is important to remember that the cells are dead.
The cells have been treated with chemicals or ‘fixed’ so they do not
decay. The tissue has also been sliced very thinly. These things can
damage or change the cells. Living cells have not been treated in this
way, but are less easy to see.
Below is a list of commonly used stains.
Table 2.1 Application of commonly used stains
Type of stain Type of cells Main organelles stained
Haematoxylin Animal and plant Nuclei stained blue/

cells purple or brown
Methylene Animal cells Nuclei stained blue

blue
Acetocarmine Animal and plant Staining the Figure 2.2 The lines that make up
cells chromosomes in dividing this diagram are actually a mass
nuclei of dots on the page. The resolving
power of your eyes means that
Iodine Plant cells Any material containing
you see the dots merged together
starch
to make lines because you can’t
resolve the dots individually. If
you magnify the line, you can
How does a light microscope work?
see the dots. In the same way,
In a light microscope, a specimen is placed on the stage and what you can see through the
illuminated (lit) from underneath. The light passes through the light microscope is limited by the
specimen and on through the lenses to give an image at the eyepiece resolving power of the microscope
lens which is greatly magnified, upside down and right to left. itself.
Grade 9 15

To calculate the magnification of the specimen, you multiply the

Did you know?
magnification of the objective lens by the magnification of the
Electron beams have a eyepiece lens. So if the magnification of the objective lens is ×10,
shorter wavelength than and the eyepiece lens is also ×10, the overall magnification of the
light. microscope is 10 × 10 = ×100. If you move the objective lenses
round and use the ×40 lens, the overall or total magnification will
become 40 × 10 = ×400.
eyepiece lens
tube
coarse
focusing knobs rotating nosepiece
fine
Did you know? objective lenses
stage
stage clips
A light microscope with iris diaphragm (under stage)
two lenses – the eyepiece
lens and the objective mirror
lens – is known as a
compound microscope.
It produces much better
magnification than is Figure 2.3 A compound microscope has two sets of lenses (objective
possible with a single lens. and eyepiece lenses) which are used to magnify the specimen. These
microscopes are widely used for looking at cells.
Activity 2.1: Learning to use a microscope

You will need: 4. Now look through the eyepiece lens and
• a microscope adjust the iris diaphragm until the light
• a lamp is bright but doesn’t dazzle you. The
illuminated area you can see is known as
• a piece of graph paper the field of view.
• a prepared slide of stained human cheek 5. Looking at your microscope from the side
cells (see figure 2.4), or look on page (not through the eyepiece lens) and
18 to find out how to make a slide for using the coarse focusing knob, move
yourself the objective lens down slowly so it is
Method as close as possible to the paper without
Remember, microscopes are delicate pieces of touching it.
equipment so always take care of them and 6. Now look through the eyepiece lens again.
handle them safely. Turn the coarse focusing knob very gently
1. Set up your microscope with the lowest in the opposite direction to move the
power lens (the smallest lens) in place. objective lens away from the slide. Do this
while you are looking through the eyepiece
2. Clip the prepared slide into place on the lens and the lines on the graph paper will
stage using the stage clips. Position the gradually appear in focus. Once you can
piece of graph paper over the hole in see the specimen clearly, use the fine
the stage. focusing knob to get the focus as sharp as
3. If your microscope has a built-in lamp, you can.
switch it on. If it has a mirror, adjust the 7. You may find that if you now shut the iris
angle of the mirror until the specimen is diaphragm down further, so that the hole
illuminated. for the light to pass through gets smaller,
you will see the specimen better (the
contrast is greater).
16 Grade 9

8. To use the higher magnifications, rotate 10. Return the microscope lenses to their
the nosepiece so that the next lens clicks original positions. Now look at a slide
into place. Do not adjust the focusing of stained human cheek cells and practise
knobs at this point as the specimen should focusing on what you see.
still be in focus and, with the coarse
focusing knob in particular, it is very easy
to break a slide. It is good to practise this
using graph paper, which will not break!
If you do need to adjust the focus, use
the fine focusing knob only with higher
magnifications. Take great care to avoid
letting the lens touch the slide/paper.
You may want to adjust the iris diaphragm
as well.
9. Make simple drawings to show how much
of the graph paper you can see at each
magnification. This will help you to get
an idea of how much the microscope is
magnifying what you are seeing. Notice Figure 2.4 Human cheek cells stained with
how the appearance of the smooth lines methylene blue (×100)
changes as you see them at greater
magnification.
Advantages and disadvantages of the light microscope

One of the biggest advantages of using a light microscope is that
we can see living plants and animals or parts of them directly. It
is very important to observe living cells. It lets us check if what
we see on prepared slides of dead tissue is at all like the real living
thing.
Any biologist working in a hospital, industrial or research lab
will have a light microscope readily available to use at any time.
School and university students around the world also rely on light
microscopes to enable them to learn about the living world of cells.
Light microscopes can also be used without electricity, which
means they can be used anywhere in the world.
Light microscopes are relatively small and not very heavy, so Figure 2.5 (a) Typical green
they can be moved around easily. They are quite delicate so they plant cells seen under the light
need to be protected, but with care biologists can even take light microscope
microscopes out into the field with them to do their research.
The biggest disadvantage of light microscopes is that their
resolving power is limited by the wavelength of light. As you saw
earlier, this limits their powers of magnification. Also we can’t
usually magnify living cells as much as we can dead tissue, which
limits what we can learn from living cells.
Grade 9 17

Using the light microscope

Figure 2.5 (b)
Using the light In the next section of this book you will learn how the light
microscope. microscope can be used to examine many different types of animal
and plant cells. It is important to learn how to mount a specimen
on a slide to use with a light microscope. Sometimes you may need
to add stain to the specimen so that it can be seen more easily. The
activity below explains exactly how to carry out this process.
Activity 2.2: Making a slide of plant cells

The prepared slide you looked at in Activity 3. Using the mounted needle (or a sharp
2.1 showed animal cells that were dead and pencil), lower the cover slip very gently
stained to make them easier to see. In this over the first specimen. Take great care
activity you are going to learn how to make a not to trap any air bubbles – these will
slide of living tissue and stain it so that the show up as black ringed circles under the
cells are easier to see. microscope.
You will need:
• a microscope lower cover slip slowly to
mounted needle avoid air bubbles becoming
trapped beneath it
• microscope slides
• cover slips cover-slip
• forceps
• a mounted needle specimen glass slide
mounting medium
• a pipette
Figure 2.6 Making a slide
• a lamp
4. Remove any excess liquid from the slide
• a piece of onion skin and place it under the microscope.
• iodine solution 5. Repeat this process with the other slide,
adding a drop of iodine solution instead
Method of water.
Remember, microscopes are expensive and 6. Starting with the slide mounted in water
delicate pieces of equipment so always take and using the lowest power objective lens,
care of them and handle them safely. follow the procedure for looking at cells
Onion cells (the sample taken) do not contain described in activity 2.1. Use the higher
any chlorophyll so they are not coloured. You power lenses to look at the cells in as
can look at them as they are, or stain them much detail as possible. You can judge how
using iodine, which reacts with the starch in well you have mounted the tissue –
the cells and turns blue-black. it should be a single layer thick and there
1. Take your piece of onion and remove should be NO air bubbles!
a small piece of the thin skin (inner 7. Repeat this process looking at the cells
epidermis) on the inside of the fleshy part stained with iodine solution. What
using your forceps. It is very thin indeed difference does the stain make?
and quite difficult to handle. 8. Make a labelled drawing of several of
2. Place the epidermis onto a microscope the cells you can see. When you make a
slide and add a drop of water. Make drawing of cells, you try and show
another identical slide and add a drop of clearly and simply what is seen under the
iodine very gently from a pipette. microscope (see figure 2.7).
18 Grade 9

Use a pencil for your drawing and always

show the magnification.

nucleus
cell wall
(a) mag x100 (b)

Figure 2.7 (a) Onion epidermis cells stained with iodine x100
(b) Illustration of some sample onion epidermis cells
You can get even more information from the light microscope by
KEY WORD
using the light in different ways. Dark-field illumination, which is
where the background is dark and the specimen illuminated, can be wavelength the distance
useful for showing tiny structures inside cells. between neighbouring wave
There is one big problem to bear in mind when you are working with crests
microscopes. Unless you are looking at living material, or have the
use of a scanning electron microscope (see below), all the cells that
you see appear flat and two-dimensional. But cells are actually three-
dimensional – spheres, cylinders and strange three-dimensional
(3-D) shapes. You need to use your imagination when you look at
cells and see them as the living things that they really are.
The electron microscope

The electron microscope was developed in the 1930s and came
into regular use in the 1950s. It has greatly increased our biological
knowledge. Instead of relying on light with its limit of resolving
power, an electron beam is used to form an image. The electrons
behave like light waves, but with a much smaller wavelength. The
resolving power is increased as the wavelength gets smaller, and as a
result, the electron microscope can resolve detail down to 0.3 nm.
Samples of material have to be specially prepared for the electron
microscope. They are fixed, stained and sliced very thinly in a similar
way to the preparation of samples for the light microscope but the
materials and stains used are very different.
How does an electron microscope work?

The image in an electron microscope is formed as electrons, which
cannot be seen by the human eye, scattered by the biological
material, in much the same way as light is scattered in the light
microscope. The electron beams are focused by magnetic lenses.
A series of magnifications gives you an image. However, you do
not simply look into an electron microscope. Complex electronics
Grade 9 19

cathode (–) produce the image on a television screen, which can then be
These produce the
beam of electrons
recorded as a photograph known as an electron micrograph or EM.
anode (+)
The most common type of electron micrograph you will see is
magnetic lens
produced by a transmission electron microscope, but the scanning
electron microscope produces spectacular images of the surfaces of
cells and organisms. It shows the surface of structures, greater depth
specimen
of focus, and a three-dimensional view of the object (see figure 2.9).
magnetic lens – the
magnification can
be varied by altering
Advantages and disadvantages of the electron microscope
the current in these
lenses We can see much more detail using an electron microscope than
with a light microscope. It gives us much higher magnification
and resolution. This is its biggest advantage. Biologists have
discovered many structures inside cells since electron microscopes
magnetic lens were developed. The electron microscope has also shown us the
complicated structures inside cell organelles (see next section) and
this helps us understand how they work.
There are several disadvantages to the electron microscope. All the
specimens are examined in a vacuum because air would scatter the
electron beam. This means it is impossible to look at living material.
final image – formed on a
screen or photographic plate Some scientists question how useful the images are because the
tissue is dead, sliced very thinly, treated with strong chemicals and
Figure 2.8 A diagram of an put in a vacuum before we look at it.
electron microscope and how it
works Electron microscopes are very expensive. They take up a lot of space
and are usually kept in a separate room. They have to be kept at a
constant temperature and pressure and have an internal vacuum.
They rely on a constant source of electricity. Few scientists outside
of the top research laboratories have access to electron microscopes
and so their use for the majority of biologists is limited.
Figure 2.9 The transmission Preparing samples for microscopes

electron microscope shows the Materials must be prepared in different ways depending on what
inside details of a cell (right) and type of microscope you are using.
the scanning electron microscope
can show us three-dimensional Tissue has to be prepared and stained in different ways for light and
shapes (blood cells above). electron microscopes: for light microscopes staining is done using
20 Grade 9

coloured dyes to reflect light, whereas for electron microscopes

heavy metals such as lead and uranium are used to reflect electrons.
For light microscopes only non-living materials need fixation,
while living materials are not fixed: specimens are always fixed with
electron microscopes.
Summary
In this section you have learnt that: is around 1000 times greater than the
• Light microscopes and electron microscopes resolving power of a light microscope.
are widely used by biologists. • Using a light microscope takes skill and
• Microscopes magnify both living and dead practice.
tissue so you can observe the features of • Dead specimens are fixed, stained and
the cells and tissue. sliced before mounting on slides to be
• Magnification involves increasing the size observed under the microscope. Living
of an object. To work out the magnification specimens are mounted on slides and stains
of a microscope you multiply the may be added.
magnification of the objective lens by the • Stains are used to make parts of cells (e.g.
magnification of the eyepiece lens. the nucleus) or types of cells show up
• Resolution is the ability to distinguish better under the microscope.
between two separate points. • Tissue has to be prepared carefully before
• The resolving power of a microscope is it can be used in the electron microscope.
dependent on the wavelength used, so the Only dead tissue can be used in the
resolving power of an electron microscope electron microscope.
Review questions
1. The maximum magnification of a light 3. Which of the following is not an advantage of
microscope would make a person: the light microscope?
A 3.5 m tall A It can be used anywhere without
B 35 m tall electricity.
C 3.5 km tall B Its resolving power is limited by the
D 35 km tall wavelength of light.
2. The largest single cell is: C It is relatively light so can be carried out
into the field for research.
A an amoeba
D It is relatively cheap.
B a jelly fish
4. Which of the following is the main advantage
C an unfertilised ostrich egg of the electron microscope?
D an unfertilised human egg A It’s very expensive.
B Specimens are examined in a vacuum so
must be dead.
C It needs a constant temperature and
pressure.
D It gives a greatly increased magnification
and resolution over the light microscope.
Grade 9 21

2.2 The cell

• State the cell theory.
• List the structures of cells and describe their function.
• Draw and label diagrams and compare typical plant and
animal cells.
• Describe the types, shapes and sizes of a variety of cells
using diagrams.
The planet we live on is covered with a wide variety of living

organisms, including animals, plants and microbes. All living
organisms are made up of units called cells. Some organisms, such
as amoeba, consist of single cells. Others, such as ourselves, are
made up of many millions of cells all working together. Organisms
that contain more than one cell are known as multicellular.
Cell theory
Figure 2.10 An organism like Cells were first seen over 300 years ago. In 1665, the English
this Paramecium carries out all scientist Robert Hooke designed and put together one of the first
the characteristic reactions of life working optical microscopes. He examined many different things
within a single cell. including thin sections of cork. Hooke saw that these sections were
made up of many tiny, regular compartments, which he called cells.
It took many years of further work for the importance of cells to
be recognised. In 1839 Matthias Schleiden and Theodore Schwann
introduced an idea known as the cell theory. The cell theory states
that cells are the basic units of life and by the 1840s this idea was
KEY WORDS accepted by most biologists.
cells the basic structural All living organisms have certain characteristics, which they carry
and functional units in all out regardless of whether they have one cell or millions. When we
living organisms look at cells we can see how all of these functions are carried out.
cell theory states that cells The seven life processes that are common to most living organisms
are the basic units of life are:
nutrition food substances • Nutrition – all living organisms need food to provide them with
needed by the body the energy used by their cells. Plants make their own food by
photosynthesis, whereas animals eat other organisms.
respiration process
whereby living organisms • Respiration – the process by which living organisms get the
obtain energy from their energy from their food.
food • Excretion – getting rid of the waste products produced by the
excretion removal of cells.
poisonous waste products • Growth – living organisms get bigger. They increase in both size
produced by cells and mass, using chemicals from their food to build new material.
growth increase in size and • Irritability – all living organisms are sensitive to changes in their
mass of an organism surroundings.
22 Grade 9

• Movement – all living organisms need to move to get near to

KEY WORDS
things they need or away from problems. Animals move using
muscles, plants move more slowly using growth. irritability sensitivity of
• Reproduction – producing offspring is vital to the long-term an organism to changes in
survival of any type of living organism. surroundings
movement the need to
get near to or away from
Cell structures and functions things
reproduction the
There are some basic similarities between all cells, animal and plant
alike. For example, almost all cells have a nucleus, a cell membrane, production of offspring to
mitochondria, ribosomes, endoplasmic reticulum and cytoplasm. ensure the survival of a
Other features are often seen in plant cells, particularly from type of organism
the green parts of the plants, but not in animal cells. This has nucleus controls all cell
led scientists to develop a picture of the basic structure of an activity and contains
unspecialised animal cell and an unspecialised green plant cell. chromosomes
Although there are not many cells which are quite this simple, the cell membrane outer
idea of unspecialised animal and plant cells gives us a very useful
layer of living cell that
base point with which to compare other, more specialised cells.
controls the movement of
substances in and out
Structures and functions in unspecialised
mitochondria carry out
animal cells cellular respiration
All cells have some features in common and we can see them clearly ribosomes organelles
in typical unspecialised animal cells (like the ones on the inside
involved in protein synthesis
of your cheek). They contain small units called organelles. Many
of these organelles contain enzymes and chemicals to carry out endoplasmic reticulum
specialised jobs within the cell. links the nucleus of a cell
• The nucleus controls all the activities of the cell. It also contains with the cell membrane
the instructions for making new cells or new organisms in the cytoplasm liquid gel which
form of long threads known as chromosomes. This is the genetic contains all the organelles
material. You will find out more about this in Grade 10. of a cell
• The cytoplasm is a liquid gel in which most of the chemical organelles the small units
reactions needed for life take place. About 70% of the cytoplasm inside a cell
of a cell is actually water! The cytoplasm contains all the other chromosome strand of DNA
organelles of the cell where most of the chemical reactions take carrying genetic information
place.
• The cell membrane forms a barrier like a very thin ‘skin’ around
the outside of the cell. The membrane controls the passage of Did you know?
substances such as carbon dioxide, oxygen and water in and
out of the cell. Because it lets some substances through but not Human beings contain an
others it is known as selectively permeable. enormous number of cells.
Estimates range from
• The mitochondria (singular: mitochondrion) are the 10 million million cells
powerhouse of the cell. They carry out most of the reactions (1012) to 100 million
of respiration, whereby energy is released from the food in a million (10012) cells – no
form your cells can use. Whenever cells need a lot of energy – one has counted accurately!
such as muscle cells and secreting cells – you will see a lot of
mitochondria.
Grade 9 23

• The endoplasmic reticulum is a three-dimensional system of

tubules that spreads right through the cytoplasm. It links the
nucleus with the cell membrane.
• The ribosomes are found on the endoplasmic reticulum in your
cells. They are vital for protein synthesis, the process by which
your body makes all the enzymes that control the reactions of
your cells.
mitochondria
nucleus cell membrane
cytoplasm Human cheek cells
Figure 2.11 A simple animal cell like this shows the features that are common to almost all living
cells. Mitochondria, endoplasmic reticulum and ribosomes cannot be seen easily with a light
microscope. They are much clearer using an electron microscope.
Activity 2.3: Using the microscope to look at animal cells

You will need:
• a microscope
• a lamp
• prepared microscope slides of human cheek cells/
epidermal cells
Method
Remember, microscopes are expensive and delicate pieces of
cell membrane
equipment so always take care of them and handle them safely.
1. Use the instructions for using the microscope, which you
×400 learnt in the previous section. You will be provided with
nucleus slides of human cheek cells and simple epithelial cells.
cytoplasm
2. Human cheek cells and simple epithelial cells are very
Figure 2.12 Micrograph and similar to your diagram of an unspecialised animal cell.
a drawing of simple cuboidal Draw some of the cells you see and label them as well
epithelial cells as you can. Remember you will NOT see ribosomes and
mitochondria under normal light microscopes.
24 Grade 9

Why do cells have organelles? KEY WORDS

All of the processes of life take place within a single cell. Imagine
enzyme protein molecule
100 mixed reactions going on in a laboratory test tube – chemical
that acts as a catalyst in
chaos and probably a few explosions would be the result! But this is
the level of chemical activity going on in a cell at any one time. Cell cells
chemistry works because each reaction is controlled by an enzyme, cell wall outer layer in
a protein designed to control the rate of a very specific reaction plant cells and bacteria that
and ensure that it takes place without becoming mixed up with any is freely permeable
other reaction. What is more, the enzymes involved in different cellulose complex
chemical processes are usually found in different parts of the cell. carbohydrate that makes up
So, for example, most of the enzymes controlling the reactions of
plant cell walls
respiration are found in the mitochondria. The enzymes controlling
the reactions of photosynthesis are found in the chloroplasts and vacuole a fluid-filled cavity
the enzymes involved in protein synthesis are found on the surface inside a cell
of the ribosomes. These cell compartments or organelles help to
keep your cell chemistry well under control.
cell membrane
vacuole
Structures and functions in unspecialised plant cells cell wall (inside cell wall)
Plants are very different from animals – they do not move

their whole bodies about and they make their own food by
photosynthesis. So, whereas plant cells have all the features
of a typical animal cell – nucleus, cell membrane, cytoplasm,
mitochondria, endoplasmic reticulum and ribosomes – they also
have structures that are needed for their very different way of life.
The cell wall is made mainly of a carbohydrate called cellulose,
which strengthens the cell and gives it support. It is found outside
the cell membrane. The cell wall structure contains large holes so
substances can move freely through it in either direction – it is
freely permeable.
Many (but not all) plant cells also have other features.
• Chloroplasts are found in all of the green parts of the plant. They
contain the green pigment chlorophyll, which gives the plant
its colour. As a result of the chlorophyll they can absorb energy nucleus
chloroplasts
from light to make food by photosynthesis.
mitochondria cytoplasm
• A permanent vacuole is a space in the cytoplasm filled with cell
sap, a liquid containing sugars, mineral ions and other chemicals Figure 2.13 A photosynthetic
dissolved in water. The vacuole is important for keeping the cells plant cell has many features in
rigid to support the plant. The vacuole pushes the cytoplasm common with an animal cell, but
against the cell wall, which keeps the whole structure firm. A others that are unique to plants.
permanent vacuole is often a feature of mature (adult) plant cells.
Grade 9 25

Activity 2.4: Making a slide of plant cells
The prepared slides you have looked at show Activity (b) – red pepper
animal cells that are dead and stained to Repeat the instructions for the onion cells
make them easier to see. In this activity except this time remove a thin epidermal
you are going to look at one of a number layer of the pepper. Again these cells do not
of different types of plant cells – either (a) contain chlorophyll, but they are red so you
onion (as you used in the previous section), do not need to use iodine on them.
(b) red pepper or (c) pondweed.
You will need: Activity (c) – pondweed such as Elodea
• a microscope (Canadian pondweed)
• microscope slides These plant cells contain chloroplasts. If you
• cover slips watch very carefully when you have the cells
under a high power of magnification you may
• forceps well see the chloroplasts moving about in the
• mounted needles living cytoplasm of the cell.
• pipette 1. Take a single leaf from a piece of
• a lamp pondweed and cut a very small section
• a piece of (a) onion, (b) red pepper or about 2 mm2.
(c) pondweed, e.g. Elodea or Canadian 2. Place the leaf sample onto a microscope
pondweed slide and add a drop of water.
Method 3. Using the mounted needle (or a pencil!)
Remember, microscopes are expensive and lower the cover slip very gently over the
delicate pieces of equipment so always take specimen, taking care not to trap air
care of them and handle them safely. bubbles.
4. Remove any excess liquid from the
Activity (a) – onion cells slide using tissues and place under the
Onion cells do not contain any chlorophyll so microscope. Starting with the low power
they are not coloured. You can look at them lens, follow the procedure for looking at
as they are, or stain them using iodine, which cells described on pages 16–17.
reacts with the starch in the cells and turns 5. Use the higher power lenses to look at the
blue-black. cells in as much detail as possible. Then
1. Take your piece of onion and remove a make a labelled drawing of several of the
small piece of the epidermis using your cells you can see.
forceps. Use the method for preparing a Figure 2.14 Micrographs
slide given in the previous section. You of Elodea cells under:
may use iodine to stain the cells.
2. Remove any excess liquid from the
slide using tissues and place under the a) low power (x250)
microscope.
3. Starting with the low power lens, follow
the procedure for looking at cells described
on pages 16–17. Use the higher power
lenses to look at the cells in as much
b) high power lenses
detail as possible. Then make a labelled
(x1260)
drawing of several of the cells you can see.
26 Grade 9

Cell specialisation in humans KEY WORDS

Looking at the structure of simple unspecialised cells gives us a specialised cells adapted
good basic understanding of how a cell works. But in multicellular to carry out a particular
organisms like human beings, most cells become specialised – that bodily function
is, they are adapted to carry out a particular function in your body. undifferentiated cells
When an egg and a sperm combine to form an embryo, a single cell cells that have not yet
is formed. This cell divides many times (you will learn more about assumed their final
this in Grade 10) to form a mass of similar undifferentiated cells. functional characteristics
Each of these cells (known as embryonic stem cells) carries all of embryonic stem cells cells
the genetic information of the individual. As the embryo develops, from the early embryo that
the cells become differentiated – they specialise to carry out a have the potential to form
particular function. For example, some cells differentiate to become
almost any other type of cell
red blood cells and carry oxygen, some become muscle cells and
others become neurones (nerve cells). This differentiation takes differentiated cells special
place as some of the genetic material (genes) in the nucleus of the cells which carry out specific
cells is switched on and others are switched off. Scientists are still functions
not quite sure what causes these changes to take place, but it seems red blood cells types of
to be at least partly down to the position of the cells in the embryo blood cell that carry oxygen
itself. around the body
The specialised cells which form as cells differentiate are often neurones nerve cells
grouped together to form a tissue – for example in humans genes units of inheritance
Figure 2.15 Within an tissue a group of cells that
organ like the pancreas performs specific functions
at least two very different
tissues can be seen. The cells
a in each type of tissue are
specialised to make a very
different chemical product,
and so they take up stains
differently, which allows Did you know?
them to be seen. Some scientists are
working with human
b a) The cells that are stained embryonic stem cells in
pink make hormones that an attempt to grow new
help to control the sugar adult tissues. The hope
levels in the blood. is that these can be used
cell to replace diseased tissue
b) The cells that are stained in people with serious
tissue
red make enzymes needed to illnesses. So far progress
(lung tissue) digest the food in the gut. is slow, partly because
organ (lung)
scientists are not sure
how to persuade human
embryonic stem cells
Figure 2.16 Large living to differentiate into the
organisms have many levels tissues they want, and
of organisation. As a result, partly because there are
each part of the body is ethical issues about using
organ system
(respiratory system)
perfectly adapted to carry cells from human embryos.
body out its functions.
Grade 9 27

Unit 2: Cell biology
connective tissue joins bits of the body together, while nervous

KEY WORDS
tissue carries information around the body and muscle tissue
organ a part of the body contracts to move the body about.
that carries out special In many living organisms, including people, there is another level of
functions organisation. Several different tissues work together to do different
epithelial cells cells jobs and form an organ such as the heart, the kidneys or the lungs.
arranged in one or more In turn different organs are combined in organ systems to carry
layers to form part of a out major functions in the body such as transporting the blood
covering or lining of a body or reproduction. Examples include the cardiovascular system (the
surface heart, lungs and blood vessels) and the digestive system.
alveoli microscopic air sacs
in the lungs with a large Specialised cells
surface area When cells become specialised to carry out one main function as
microvilli minute hair-like part of a tissue or organ their structure is often very different to
structures that increase the that of a ‘typical’ plant or animal cell. The structure is modified
surface area of a cell or adapted to suit the very specialised job the cell is doing. For
example, cells that use a lot of energy have many mitochondria,
meiosis cell division that whereas cells that are important for diffusion will have a large
reduces the chromosome surface area and cells that produce lots of proteins have many
numbers and forms the sex ribosomes as well as mitochondria.
cells
By looking carefully at specialised cells you can see how their
sperm male sex cell structure is adapted to their function. Below are some examples of
acrosome a thin sac at the specialised cells you will find in the human body.
the head of a sperm cell
containing enzymes which Epithelial cells
dissolve the protective Sometimes the specialisation is not to be very specialised! Epithelial
layers of an egg cell cells play many very important roles in the human body. They
are usually arranged in thin sheets of epithelial tissue (which are
often only one cell thick) and they cover your internal and external
surfaces. So your skin is made up of epithelial cells, and your gut,
your respiratory system, your reproductive system and many other
organ systems of your body are all lined with epithelial cells.
Epithelial cells have many different functions, and their basic
structure may be adapted to make them more efficient at their job.
Many epithelial cells are there to protect the tissues underneath
from damage or infection. They have a very basic simple cell
squamous epithelium (flattened cells)
structure, such as in your skin. Epithelial cells often allow the
diffusion of materials from one area of your body to another – they
line the air sacs (alveoli) of your lungs, and the gut wall as well as
many glands which secrete hormones or enzymes. Epithelial cells
may be flattened, thin columns or have tiny, hair-like projections
cuboidal epithelium ciliated columnar known as microvilli on them to increase the surface area of the cell.
epithelium
This is seen in places like the gut, where diffusion is very important.
Figure 2.17 Epithelial cells are Some epithelial cells found in the respiratory and the reproductive
found all over your body, lining systems have small hair-like cilia, which move and beat and can be
the body spaces, organs and used to move substances through a tube. In your airways ciliated
tubes inside you as well as epithelial cells move mucus and microbes away from your lungs,
forming your skin. whereas in the female reproductive system ciliated epithelium helps
to move the ovum towards the uterus.
28 Grade 9

Reproductive cells – the eggs and sperm protective outer coat

of cells
large nucleus
The reproductive cells in your body are specialised to perform very
different functions when you reproduce (you will learn more about a)
this in Grade 10). If you are female your body contains ova or egg
cells found in your ovaries. These female sex cells have only half the
number of chromosomes found in normal body cells (you will learn
more on meiosis in Grade 10, a form of cell division that halves
the number of chromosomes in your cells). Egg cells have a large
nucleus containing genetic information from the woman. They have
a protective outer coat to make sure only one sperm gets through
to fertilise the egg, and a store of food in the cytoplasm for the
developing embryo. In humans, this food store is quite small, but in
animals such as birds it is very large – it forms the yolk of the egg. cytoplasm containing small food store
A small number of relatively large egg cells are released by the b) sac of enzymes
to penetrate
ovaries over a woman’s reproductive life. membrane
head
around ovum
If you are male, once you have gone through puberty your body
will produce millions of male sex cells known as sperm. Like the mid-piece
nucleus
egg cells, sperm have only half the chromosome number of normal
body cells. Sperm cells are usually released a long way from the egg mitochondria
to release
they are going to fertilise. They need to move through the female energy for
reproductive system to reach an egg. Then they need to be able to tail movement
break into the egg. They have several adaptations to make all this (flagellum)
for
possible. Sperm have long tails containing muscle-like proteins so propulsion
they can swim towards the egg. The middle section of a sperm is full
of mitochondria which provide the energy for the tail to work. They
have a special sac known as the acrosome, which stores digestive
enzymes used for breaking down the outer layers of the egg. Finally, Figure 2.18 a) Egg and b) sperm
the sperm has a large nucleus containing the genetic information cells show very clear adaptations
to be passed on to the offspring. Sperm cells are much smaller than to their much specialised
egg cells, but they are produced in their millions every day. functions.
Nerve cells (neurones)

Nerve cells or neurones are part of the communication and control
system of your body. Electrical nerve impulses pass along them at
great speed carrying information from one part of your body to
another. So, nerve cells have some clearly specialised features that a)
make this possible. Whatever the type of nerve cell, they have a cell
b) dendrites
axon
muscle
fibre
cell body nucleus myelin sheath
Figure 2.19 Nerve cells are very different from epithelial cells – but they play a very different role in
your body.
Grade 9 29

body containing the nucleus, dendrites that communicate with

KEY WORDS
neighbouring nerve cells and nerve fibres (called the axon) that can
dendrites short, arm-like carry the nerve impulse long distances. The nerve fibres are often
protuberances of a nerve covered by a protective myelin sheath that allows the nerve impulses
cell to travel faster. You will find out more about nerve cells in Grade 10.
axon extension of a neuron
that transmits messages Muscle cells
Your muscles are responsible for movement in your body. They are
cells made up of very specialised muscle cells or muscle fibres. These are
very long thin (elongated) cells which can contract and relax. When
they are relaxed they can be stretched, and when they contract they
shorten powerfully. The muscle cells contain two proteins, actin and
myosin, and it is these which enable the muscle cells to contract.
nucleus The most common muscle in the body is striated or striped muscle,
stripes caused by arrangement
and these proteins are arranged so that the muscle cell looks striped.
of actin and myosin Muscle cells also contain lots of mitochondria which provide the
energy for them to contract. The muscle cells are always found in
bundles and they all contract together. You will find out more about
muscle and its role in your body in Grade 10.
All living cells carry out the characteristic functions of life. As a
result, they all have some features in common. But as you have seen
there are many ways in which cells become specialised to carry out
particular functions in your body. As you study more about the
way the human body works in this book, you will discover more
examples of specialised cells and their importance in the healthy
functioning of your body.
Figure 2.20 Striated muscle has
dark and light stripes under the Activity 2.5: Observing different human cells
microscope.
you will need:
KEY WORDS • a microscope
muscle cells elongated • a lamp

contractile cells that form • prepared microscope slides of different human cells –
muscle ciliated epithelia, nervous tissue, muscle fibres, sperm and
muscle fibres strands of ova if possible
protein that enable muscles Method
to contract
Remember, microscopes are expensive and delicate pieces of
equipment so always take care of them and handle them safely.
you will not see mitochondria and ribosomes with a light
microscope.
1. Set up your microscope with the lowest power lens (the
smallest lens) in place.
2. Clip a prepared slide into place on the stage using the stage
clips and observe it using the microscope as described in
activity 2.1 on pages 16–17.
30 Grade 9

3. To use the higher magnifications, rotate the nose piece

so that the next lens clicks into place. DO NOT TOUCH the
focusing knobs as the specimen should still be in focus and
– with the coarse focusing knob in particular – it is very
easy to break the slide. If you do need to adjust the focus,
use the fine focusing knob only and the higher powers of
magnification. Take great care to avoid letting the lens
touch the slide. You may want to adjust the iris diaphragm
as well.
4. It takes time to be able to understand and interpret what
you see under the microscope – the cells you see won’t be
as clear as the diagrams in your books because those have
been drawn by experts using the best possible specimens!
Draw some of the cells you see and label them as well
as you can. Remember you will NOT see ribosomes and
mitochondria under normal light microscopes.
ciliated epithelium motor neurone spermatozoa
Figure 2.21 Micrographs of specialised cells
Summary
In this section you have learnt that:
• All living organisms are based on units known as cells.
• There are seven life processes that are common to all living
organisms: nutrition, respiration, excretion, growth, irritability
(response to stimuli), movement and reproduction.
• Unspecialised animal cells all have the following structures
and organelles: a cell membrane, cytoplasm, nucleus,
mitochondria, endoplasmic reticulum and ribosomes. Each
of these has a characteristic structure and carries out clear
functions in the working of the cell.
• Unspecialised plant cells all have the same basic structures
and organelles as an animal cell. In addition, they have a
cellulose cell wall, and may have a permanent vacuole. In
the green parts of a plant all the cells contain chloroplasts,
which in turn contain chlorophyll. Each of these has a
characteristic structure and carries out clear functions in the
working of the cell.
Grade 9 31

KEY WORDS • In multicellular organisms like human beings the cells of the
embryo differentiate to form specialised cells, which carry
diffusion movement of out particular functions in the body.
particles from an area of
high concentration to an • Cells specialised to carry out a particular function are
area of low concentration grouped together to form a tissue, tissues group together
to form an organ, several different organs working together
along a concentration
form an organ system and organ systems working together
gradient make up the body of a complex multicellular organism.
osmosis movement of
• There are many different specialised cells in the human body.
water from an area of
They include epithelial cells, sperm cells, egg cells, nerve
high concentration to an cells and muscle cells. A close look at their specialisation
area of low concentration shows how they are adapted to their functions.
along a concentration
gradient through a partially
permeable membrane
active transport
Review questions
movement of substances Select the correct answer from A to D.
against a concentration 1. Which of the following is not an organelle within a cell?
gradient using energy from
A nucleus
respiration
B chloroplast
concentration a way
of measuring how many C mitochondria
particles of a substance are D cytoplasm
in one place
2. Which of the following is not one of the seven life processes
that characterise living things?
A movement
B language
C reproduction
D respiration
3. One of these is a tissue in the human body. Which one?
A heart
B stomach
C muscle
D uterus
32 Grade 9

2.3 The cell and its environment

• Describe the permeability of the cell membrane.
• Describe the process of diffusion and its importance in living organisms.
• Demonstrate diffusion experimentally.
• Explain the process of osmosis and its importance in living organisms.
• Demonstrate osmosis experimentally.
• Show that plant cells become flaccid when they lose water and turgid when they
absorb water by osmosis.
• Explain plasmolysis and turgor pressure.
• Explain passive and active transport across cell membranes.
• Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of diffusion, osmosis and active transport for
moving substances into and out of cells.
Your cells need to take in substances, such as oxygen and glucose,

and to get rid of waste products and chemicals that are needed
elsewhere in your body. In human beings, just like all other living
organisms, dissolved substances can move into and out of your cells
across the cell membrane in three different ways – by diffusion, by
osmosis and by active transport. In this section you will look at
each of these methods of transport in turn.
Diffusion Did you know?

When you go home from school you will probably know if there is a Some sharks can sense
meal cooking before you get there. How? Because the smell reaches one part blood in 10 or
you by diffusion. Diffusion happens when the particles of a gas, or even 100 million parts of
any substance in solution, spread out. sea water – it’s not a good
Diffusion is the net (overall) movement of particles from an idea to bleed in the sea!
area of high concentration to an area of lower concentration.
Concentration is a way of measuring how much (how many
particles) of a substance is in one place.
Diffusion takes place because of the random movements of the
particles of a gas or of a substance in solution in water. All the
particles are moving and bumping into each other and this moves
them all around. Although the molecules are moving in both
directions, there are more particles moving in the area of high
concentration, and so the net (overall) movement is away from the
area of high concentration towards the area of low concentration.
Figure 2.22 The blood from an
Imagine an empty classroom containing a group of boys and a injured fish or animal will spread
group of girls. If everyone closes their eyes and moves around through the water by diffusion.
briskly but randomly, people will bump into each other and scatter Fish like this piranha will follow
until the room contains a mixture of boys and girls. This gives you a the trail of diffusing blood to some
good working model of diffusion. easy prey!
Grade 9 33

Activity 2.6: Demonstrating diffusion

You will need:
• stopwatch or timer
Method
If your classroom or school yard is suitable, try the idea
described on page 33.
At the moment of adding blue
particles to yellow mixture 1. All the boys stand in one corner (a high concentration
they are not mixed at all.
of boys). All the girls stand in another corner (a high
concentration of girls).
2. Your teacher starts a timer for 30 seconds and you move
around slowly with your eyes closed until the timer tells you
to stop.
3. Open your eyes and observe what is happening, then start
the timer again and move slowly with your eyes closed
again. Repeat until the area contains an even mixture of
As the particles move boys and girls.
randomly the blue ones begin
to mix with the yellow ones.
Activity 2.7: Detecting diffusion

You will need:
• stopwatch or timer
Method
1. Your teacher will open a bottle of a strongly scented
chemical such as ammonia or spray some perfume at the
As the particles move and spread front of your class.
they bump into each other and
keep spreading as a result of all 2. Start timing as the spray is released, and then put your
the random movement. hand up when you can smell the scent. You’ll see a wave of
hands moving from the front to the back and sides of the
class as the molecules spread out by diffusion.
3. Time how long it takes to reach the last person.
Rates of diffusion
Diffusion is a relatively slow process. A number of different factors
Eventually the particles are affect the rate at which it takes place.
completely mixed and diffusion
is complete. If there is a big difference in concentration between two areas,
diffusion will take place quickly. However, when a substance is
Figure 2.23 The random
moving from a higher concentration to one which is just a bit lower,
movement of particles results
the movement towards the less concentrated area will appear to be
in substances spreading out
quite small. This is because although some particles move into the
or diffusing from an area of
area of lower concentration by random movement, at the same time
higher concentration to an
other identical particles are leaving that area by random movement.
area of lower concentration.
34 Grade 9

the overall or net movement = particles moving in – particles KEY WORDS

moving out net amount remaining after
In general the bigger the difference in concentration the faster certain adjustments have
the rate of diffusion will be. This difference between two areas of been made
concentration is called the concentration gradient and the bigger concentration gradient
the difference the steeper the gradient will be. difference between an
Concentration isn’t the only thing that affects the rate of diffusion. area of high concentration
An increase in temperature means the particles in a gas or a and an area of low
solution move more quickly. This in turn means diffusion will concentration
take place more rapidly as the random movement of the particles passive uses no energy
speeds up.
Always remember that diffusion is passive – it takes place along a
concentration gradient from high to low concentration and uses up
no energy.
Figure 2.24 This diagram shows

how the overall movement of
permanganate
Concentration
particles in a particular direction

of potassium
potassium
permanganate is more effective if there is a big
particles
difference (a steep concentration
gradient) between the two areas.
This is why so many body systems
potassium
permanganate are adapted to maintain steep
Time
crystal concentration gradients.
Activity 2.8: The effect of temperature on diffusion

Potassium manganate(VII) (potassium Method
permanganate) forms purple crystals that 1. Half fill one beaker with cold water.
dissolve in water. This activity demonstrates
both simple diffusion and the impact of 2. Put exactly the same amount of warm
temperature on the rate of diffusion. or hot water in the second beaker.
(N.B. if the water is hot, be careful how
You will need: you handle it.)
• two identical beakers (100, 200 or 3. Drop a crystal of potassium
250 cm3) manganate(VII) in each beaker at the
• cold water same time. Simultaneously start the stop-
• warm/hot water watch.
• two crystals of potassium manganate(VII) 4. Time how long it takes the purple colour to
reach different points in your beaker, and
• a stopwatch (if possible) the total time it takes for the
liquid to become purple.
5. Write up your investigation and explain
your results in terms of diffusion and the
effect of temperature on the movement of
particles.
Grade 9 35

DID yoU kNow? Diffusion in living organisms

Many important substances can move across your cell membranes
Many moths rely on by diffusion. The oxygen that you need for respiration passes easily
diffusion to find a mate. from the air into your lungs into your blood and then into your
The female moths produce body cells by diffusion. Similarly the waste carbon dioxide produced
a powerful chemical by your cells passes out easily by diffusion. Simple sugars like
known as a pheromone to glucose and amino acids from the breakdown of proteins in your
attract males. Pheromone gut can also pass through your cell membranes by diffusion.
molecules spread through
the air by diffusion, Because diffusion can be a relatively slow process, individual
sometimes helped by cells may be adapted to make diffusion easier and more rapid. As
breezes. Male moths can movement of substances into and out of cells takes place across
pick up these molecules as the cell membrane, the most common adaptation is to increase the
far as five miles away from surface area of the cell membrane over which diffusion occurs. Only
the female – and then fly up so many particles of a substance such as oxygen can diffuse over
the concentration gradient a given surface area, so increasing the surface area means there is
until they reach their mate! more room for diffusion to take place. By folding up the membrane
of a cell the area over which diffusion can take place is greatly
increased and so the amount of substance moved by diffusion is
Cells increase their surface
area by infoldings of the also greatly increased. Tissues and organs show similar adaptations
membrane like these to make sure that diffusion takes place as quickly as possible – the
microvilli. air sacs of the lungs, the villi of the small intestine and the thin, flat
leaves of plants are just three examples of this.
osmosis
Diffusion takes place where particles can spread freely from one
place to another. However, the solutions inside a cell are separated
from those outside the cell by the cell membrane, which does not
let all types of particles through. Only the smallest particles can
pass through freely. Because the membrane only lets some types of
particles through, it is known as partially permeable.
Figure 2.25 An increase in the Partially permeable cell membranes allow water to move across
surface area of a cell membrane them. It is important to remember that a dilute solution of (for
means more diffusion can take example) sugar contains a high concentration of water (the solvent)
place. and a low concentration of sugar (the solute). A concentrated sugar
solution contains a relatively low concentration of water and a high
concentration of sugar.
KEY WORDS Osmosis is a special type of diffusion where only water moves
partially permeable across a partially permeable membrane, from an area of high
allows the passage of some concentration of water to an area of lower concentration of water.
substances but not all A cell is basically a solution inside a partially permeable bag (the
solvent liquid in which a cell membrane). The cell contents contain a fairly concentrated
solute is dissolved solution of salts and sugars. Water moves from a high concentration
of water particles (a dilute solution) to a less concentrated solution
solute chemical that is of water particles (a concentrated solution) across the membrane
dissolved in a solvent of the cell. The sugars and salts cannot cross the membrane. In
other words, osmosis takes place. Take care when you define
osmosis. Make it clear that it is only water that is moving across the
membrane, and get your concentrations right!
36 Grade 9

The internal concentration of your cells needs to stay the same

KEY WORDS
all the time for the reactions of life to take place. Yet animal and
plant cells are bathed in liquid which can be at very different isotonic solutions of equal
concentrations to the inside of the cells. This can make water move solute concentration
into or out of the cells by osmosis. So osmosis is very important for hypertonic a solution
all living organisms, including human beings. with a greater solute
Cell membranes aren’t the only partially permeable membranes. concentration than another
There are artificial ones too, and these can be used to make a hypotonic a solution with a
model cell (see the specimen investigation below). By changing the lesser solute concentration
concentration of the solutions inside and outside your model cell, than another
you can see exactly why osmosis is so important in living organisms
– and why it is so critical if things go wrong!
There are a number of ways in which you can show how osmosis
takes place in living cells. One is described for you here and written
out as a specimen investigation. Other ways of investigating osmosis
in cells are presented for you to try.
larger sucrose molecules key

random movement of cannot pass through
water molecules due membrane sugar molecules
to their kinetic energy water molecules
water molecules attracted

to sucrose molecules
Figure 2.26 This is a model of

how osmosis works – with a net
movement of water molecules
from an area where they are
water sucrose solution in a high concentration to an
area where they are at a lower
arrows show amount of water
movement in each direction concentration through a partially
permeable membrane.
If the concentration of the solutions on both sides of a cell

membrane are the same they are isotonic.
If the concentration of the solution on the outside of the cell
membrane is higher than the concentration of the solution inside
the cell it is hypertonic.
If the concentration of the solution on the outside of the cell
membrane is lower than the concentration of the solution inside the
cell it is hypotonic.
Grade 9 37

Specimen investigation: Demonstrating osmosis in model cells
You will need: Apparatus

• two sets of the equipment glass tubing
shown in figure 2.27 final
level
to make model cells in
different situations
• wax crayon (coloured water
(hypotonic to membrane bag)
pencil) or small stickers
concentrated
sugar solution
Method
A Sugar solution in partially permeable membrane bag
1. In set A, put
concentrated sucrose
(sugar) solution in the glass tubing
Visking tubing bag, and
water surrounding it in final level
the beaker.
2. In set B, put water in water
the Visking tubing bag
and concentrated sucrose concentrated
sugar solution
solution surrounding it in (hypertonic to membrane bag)
the beaker.
B Water in partially permeable membrane bag
3. In both cases, mark the
starting level of the Figure 2.27 Using bags of partially permeable membrane to make
liquid on the capillary model cells you can clearly see the effect of osmosis as water moves
tubing using the pencil across the membrane from a dilute to a concentrated sugar solution.
or stickers and observe
the state of the Visking
tubing bag. Results
4. Leave the model cells for In set A, the liquid level had risen up the glass tubing and the
30 minutes or longer. membrane bag was full and tight.
5. Observe the level of water In set B, the liquid level in the glass tubing had dropped and
in the capillary tubing the membrane bag was less full and soft.
and the state of the
Visking tubing. Conclusion
In a model cell, if the concentration of water is higher outside
the selectively permeable membrane bag than it is on
the inside, water will move into the model cell by osmosis
(set A). This is why the liquid level rose and the bag filled.
If the concentration of water is higher inside the membrane
bag than outside, water will leave the model cell by osmosis
(set B). This is why the liquid level fell and the bag was
emptier. This mimics what happens in real cells.
38 Grade 9

Activity 2.9: Using potato cups as osmometers

You can use simple potatoes to demonstrate 6. In D you will be given a cooked potato, or
osmosis. A system that shows or measures you must cook it yourself before starting
osmosis is an osmometer. the experiment. Place sugar or strong
You will need: sugar solution in the cup. Mark the level.
Place water in the container.
• three raw potatoes and one cooked potato
(or three raw half potatoes and one cooked 7. Leave the investigations for several hours
half potato) or overnight.
• four containers e.g. beakers, bowls 8. Record your results carefully.
• strong sugar solution/sugar 9. Write up the investigation and make some

conclusions. Explain your results in terms
• water of osmosis.
Method (a) hollowed out
potato cup
(b) sugar or strong
sugar solution
1. Take each potato or half potato and cut container
one end to make it flat. Peel the layer

directly above the flat end (see figure water peeled water
2.28). area
(c) (d) sugar or strong
2. Hollow out the other end of the potato to water sugar solution
make a cup (see figure 2.28).
3. Set up the experiment as shown in figure
2.28. A is your control. water
strong sugar solution boiled potato cup
4. In B place sugar or strong sugar solution
in the cup, with water in the container. If Figure 2.28 Potato cup osmometers. You can
you use sugar solution in the cup, mark use these to show that osmosis takes place.
the level before you start the experiment.
By varying the strength of the sugar solutions
5. In C place water in the potato cup and you use in osmometers B and C you can
mark the level. Place strong sugar solution investigate how the strength of the solution
in the container. affects the rate and amount of osmosis.
Osmosis in animals
Osmosis is an important way of moving water in and out of the KEY WORD
cell when needed. If a cell uses up water in its chemical reactions, dilute to make less
the cytoplasm becomes more concentrated. The external solution concentrated
is hypotonic and more water will immediately move in by osmosis.
Similarly if the cytoplasm becomes too dilute because water is
produced during chemical reactions. The external solution becomes
hypertonic and water will leave the cell by osmosis, restoring the
balance.
However osmosis can also cause some very serious problems in
animal cells. If the solution outside the cell is much more dilute
than the cell contents (hypotonic) then water will move into the
cell by osmosis, diluting the cytoplasm. The cell will swell and may
eventually burst.
On the other hand, if the solution outside the cell is much more
concentrated than the cell contents (hypertonic) then water will
Grade 9 39

move out of the cell by osmosis, the cytoplasm will become too
KEY WORD
concentrated and the cell will shrivel up. Once you understand the
homeostasis maintenance effect osmosis can have on cells, the importance of homeostasis and
of a constant internal maintaining constant internal conditions will become clear. You will
environment learn more about this later in your course.
(a) (b) (c)

water enters the
cell by osmosis
cell placed in dilute salt solution

(hypotonic)
When the concentration of your body If the concentration of the solution If the concentration of your body
fluids is the same as your red blood around the red blood cells is higher fluids is lower than your red blood
cell contents, equal amounts of water than the concentration of substances cell contents water enters the cells
enter and leave the cell by random inside the cell, water will leave the by osmosis so your red blood
movement and the cell keeps its shape. cell by osmosis. This makes it shrivel cells swell up, lose their shape and
and shrink so it can no longer carry eventually burst!
oxygen around your body.
red blood cell in a
solution with the
same concentration
as the cell’s contents
(isotonic)
red blood
water leaves the cell shrinks
cell by osmosis
cell placed in strong salt solution
(hypertonic)
Figure 2.29 Keeping your body fluids at the right concentration is vital. When you realise what can
happen to your red blood cells if things go wrong, you can see why!
Activity 2.10: How does osmosis affect animal cells?

You can show the effect on Method
animal cells of water moving 1. Fill one beaker with water and one with strong salt solution.
in or out by osmosis with
this simple experiment using 2. Very carefully crack one egg open and separate the yolk
egg yolks. from the white. Do not break the yolk. Place the yolk
carefully in the beaker of water.
You will need:
3. Very carefully crack the other egg open and separate the
• two beakers yolk from the white. Do not break the yolk. Place the yolk
• water carefully in the beaker of salt solution.
• strong salt solution made 4. Immediately observe the yolks very carefully. Draw them or
by dissolving salt in water describe what they look like. Measure them if you can.
• two egg yolks 5. Leave the yolks in the water and salt solution for at least
an hour. Then observe and record any changes in the
appearance of the yolks.
6. Write up your experiment and explain what you have
observed in terms of osmosis.
40 Grade 9

Osmosis in plants KEY WORDS

Plants rely on osmosis to support their stems and leaves. Water
turgor when the cytoplasm
moves into plant cells by osmosis, making the cytoplasm swell and
of a plant cell is pushed
press against the plant cell walls. The pressure builds up until no
more water can enter the cell, which is hard and rigid. This swollen hard against the cell wall by
state is called turgor. It keeps the leaves and stems of the plant rigid the vacuole which is filled
and firm. So for plants it is important that the fluid surrounding the with water
cells always has a higher concentration of water (it is a more dilute flaccid floppy, limp
solution of chemicals or hypotonic) than the cytoplasm of the cells, plasmolysis when the
to keep osmosis working in the right direction. cytoplasm of a plant cell
To understand the difference between animal and plant cells when shrinks away from the
it comes to water moving in by osmosis, imagine blowing up a cell wall due to osmotic
balloon. As more and more water moves in the balloon gets bigger movement of water
and bigger and eventually bursts. This models an animal cell placed
in pure water or a very dilute solution of salts. Now imagine a
balloon sealed into a cardboard box. As the balloon inflates it fills
the box and then presses out against the box walls. Eventually you
cytoplasm
simply cannot force any more air into the balloon. The box feels
very rigid and the balloon does not burst. This models a plant cell
placed in pure water or a very dilute solution of salts. vacuole
If the surrounding fluid becomes more concentrated than the

cell wall
contents of the plant cells (hypertonic), then water will leave the
cells by osmosis. The vacuole shrinks and the cell becomes much
less rigid – it is flaccid. If water continues to leave the cell by cell placed in dilute solution, or
water, absorbs water by osmosis and
osmosis, eventually the cytoplasm pulls away from the cell walls and becomes turgid
the cell goes into a state known as plasmolysis.
As you have seen, in normal conditions water moves into plant
cells by osmosis and keeps them rigid. This in turn helps to keep
the plant upright. But if conditions are very dry, the plant cannot
take enough water up through the roots from the soil. The cells are
no longer rigid and the plant wilts. Many of the chemical reactions
slow down and so the plant survives until more water is available.
But only for so long – if the osmotic situation is not put right fairly
quickly, most plants will die.
cell placed in concentrated solution
loses water by osmosis and becomes
flaccid
Activity 2.11: How does osmosis affect plant cells?
you will need:
• onion epidermis – red onion is best because the cytoplasm
is red so you can see the effects of osmosis much better
• a microscope
• two microscope slides and cover slips
• mounted needle
excessive loss of water by osmosis
• 1M sucrose solution causes the cell to become
• two small beakers, one labelled ‘water’ and the other plasmolysed
labelled ‘sucrose solution’
Figure 2.30 Osmosis plays an
• two dropping pipettes important role in maintaining the
• tissue/filter paper rigid structure of plants.
Grade 9 41

Method 7. Examine both of your slides carefully under the microscope.

1. Using one of your Look for any differences between them. Draw and label a
pipettes, place a drop representative few cells from each slide.
of water on one of the 8. Take the slide which has the cells in sucrose solution.
microscope slides and Replace the sucrose solution with water and observe any
then place the pipette in changes in the cells. To do this, place some drops of water
the beaker of water. on one side of the slide beside the cover slip. Place some
2. Using the other pipette, tissue or filter paper next to the cover slip on the other
place one drop of sucrose side (see figure 2.31) and the sucrose solution will be
solution on the other drawn up into the absorbent paper, pulling the water under
microscope slide and the cover slip. You may need to repeat this several times to
then place the pipette make sure the cells are now in almost pure water.
in the beaker of sucrose
onion bulb leaf epidermis mounted in
solution. sucrose solution
3. Either collect or prepare
a piece of epidermis and
place it on the drop of
water on your microscope
slide.
4. Add another drop of water
on top of your piece of
epidermis and, using the epidermis
mounted needle, carefully mounted in
lower the cover slip into tap water
place. Blot any excess

filter paper epidermis
water using tissues. mounted in
sucrose
5. Now collect or prepare a
piece of epidermis and water
place it on the drop of
sucrose solution on your Figure 2.31 Using this simple technique you can change the
microscope slide. solution surrounding your plant epidermis cells as many times
6. Add another drop of as you want to.
sucrose solution on top
of your piece of epidermis 9. Examine the cells again carefully and observe any changes
and, using the mounted in the cells after the sucrose solution has been replaced by
needle, carefully lower water.
the cover slip into place. 10. Write up your investigation fully, including your drawings
Blot any excess liquid and explain your observations are in terms of osmosis.
using tissues or filter
paper.
To carry out activity 2.11 you need to have a microscope. However,

you do not need a microscope to measure the effects of osmosis on
plant tissue, as you will see if you carry out activity 2.12.
42 Grade 9

Activity 2.12: How does osmosis affect potato tissue?

There are two alternative Method A
ways of carrying out this 1. If you have a cork borer or apple corer, cut three cylinders
same experiment. Potato is out of your potato. Trim the skin off the top and bottom and
the most common vegetable cut them all to approximately the same length. If not, cut
chosen but you could use three long blocks from your potato (approximately 5 cm x
others such as sweet potato 1 cm x 1 cm) and trim off any skin from the top and bottom.
or yam and compare the
results you obtain. The basic 2. Half fill one boiling tube with tap water and label it. Half fill
equipment is the same for another with 1M sucrose solution and label it. Leave the third
both methods. tube empty.
You will need: 3. You are going to be measuring changes in your potato
cylinders, so make sure that you know exactly which cylinder
• a potato
you are going to place in which boiling tube before you start
• a cork borer or apple measuring! Draw out tables like those given below to record
corer and a sharp knife or your observations.
scalpel
4. Measure the length of each cylinder as accurately as you can
• a tile or chopping board and record the measurement.
• three test tubes or beakers 5. Gently blot each potato cylinder with filter paper to remove
• tweezers excess moisture. If you have a balance available, find and
• a balance if possible record each mass carefully.
(sensitive to 0.1 g) 6. Place one cylinder in your tube of water, one in 1M sucrose
• a ruler solution and one in the air. Leave them for a minimum of
• filter paper 30 minutes.
• 1M sucrose solution 7. Using the tweezers, remove each cylinder of potato and blot
it dry if necessary.
• marker pen
Table 1: Investigating the effect of osmosis on potato cylinders: length (mm)
Tube Starting Final length Change in % change in Condition
length (mm) (mm) length (mm) length (Flexible/stiff)
Water
Sucrose
solution
Nothing
(air)

Table 2: Investigating the effect of osmosis on potato cylinders: mass (g)
Tube Starting Final mass Change in % change in Condition
mass (g) (g) mass (g) mass (Flexible/stiff)
Water
Sucrose
solution
Nothing
(air)

Grade 9 43

8. Measure each tube in

turn and record the final
length in your table.
9. Observe the appearance tap water sucrose air
of the cylinder compared solution
to a freshly cut one and
record it on your table.
10. Calculate the change in potato cylinders or chips
length from the start
to the finish. This may
be positive or negative, Figure 2.32 Apparatus for investigating the effects of osmosis on
depending on whether plant tissue
the potato has lost or 11. Calculate the percentage change in length for each cylinder
gained length. and enter it on your table:
% change = change in length x 100
starting length
12. If you have measured the mass, calculate the percentage
change in mass for each cylinder and enter it on your
DID yoU kNow? table:
% change = change in mass x 100
When you sprinkle salt on
bitter fruit or vegetables starting mass
before using them in 13. Write up your investigation, explaining your observations
cooking, water moves in terms of osmosis and the concentrations of the liquids
out of the plant cells by surrounding the potato cylinders. Make suggestions for
osmosis and dissolves the any ways in which you feel the investigation might be
salt crystals. This is why improved and the results made more reliable. Do you think
you are left with floppy that measuring the length or finding the mass of the
fruit and salty liquor! potato is the most reliable method to use?
Method B (this requires a balance) 6. Repeat this for the other two tubes.
Follow method A as far as point 3. In 7. Calculate the percentage change in mass
this second method you are only going to for each cylinder and enter it on your
investigate changes in mass, so you will only table:
need one table for your results. % change = change in mass x 100
3. When you have cut and dried your three starting mass
cylinders of potato, cut each into a
number of smaller discs. 8. Write up your investigation as before.
4. Weigh each pile of discs, and then place 9. Why do you think that you cut each
them into the different boiling tubes and cylinder into a number of small discs
leave them for a minimum of 30 minutes. before starting this experiment?
5. Using the tweezers, remove all the discs

from one tube, blot them dry if necessary
and weigh. Record your results in the
table.
44 Grade 9

Active transport
molecule
There are three main ways in which substances are moved into and at receptor
out of cells. Diffusion is the passive movement of substances and site
it depends on a concentration gradient in the right direction to
work. Osmosis depends on a concentration gradient of water and
a partially permeable membrane. Only water moves in osmosis. protein
forms
However, sometimes the substances needed by your body have to channel
be moved against a concentration gradient, or across a partially
permeable membrane, or both. The only way you can do this is to
use energy produced by respiration. The process is known as active molecule
transport. released on
other side of
Active transport allows cells to move substances from an area of membrane
low concentration to an area of high concentration, completely
against the concentration gradient. As a result the cells can absorb
ions from very dilute solutions. It also makes it possible for them Figure 2.33 Sometimes it is worth
to move substances like sugars and ions from one place to another using up energy when a resource
through the cell membranes. is particularly valuable and its
It takes energy for the active transport system shown in figure transport is really important!
2.33 to carry a molecule across the membrane and then return to
its original position. That energy comes from cellular respiration.
Scientists have shown in a number of different cells that the rate
of respiration and the rate of active transport are closely linked. In Active transport
other words, if a cell is making lots of energy, it can carry out lots of
active transport. Cells like root hair cells and your gut lining cells,
which are involved in a lot of active transport, usually have lots of
mitochondria to provide the energy they need.
The importance of active transport Respiration rate

Active transport is widely used in cells. There are some situations Figure 2.34 The rate of active
where it is particularly important. For example, the mineral ions in transport depends on the rate of
the soil are usually found in very dilute solutions – more dilute than respiration.
the solution within the plant cells. By using active transport plants
can absorb these mineral ions needed for making proteins and
other important chemicals from the soil, even though it is against a
concentration gradient.
Glucose is always moved out of your gut and kidney tubules into
your blood, even when it is against a large concentration gradient,
so this relies on active transport.
mineral to move mineral ions

ions at low into plant is against
concentration concentration gradient
in soil
mineral ions
at higher
concentration
inside plant
key Figure 2.35 It takes the use of energy in

mineral ions active transport to move mineral ions
water
water against a concentration gradient like this.
Grade 9 45

The cells of all living organisms contain sodium chloride and other
chemicals in solution. This means they can always be prone to water
moving into them by osmosis. If they are immersed in a solution
with a lower concentration of salts than the body cells they will
tend to gain water. If in a more concentrated solution, water is lost.
Either way can spell disaster. Here are just a few of the different
ways in which living organisms attempt – largely successfully – to
beat osmosis! Active transport is usually an important part of the
solution.
Fish that live in fresh water have a real problem. They need a
constant flow of water over their gills to get the oxygen they need
Figure 2.36 These flamingos have
for respiration. But water moves into their gill cells and blood by
salt glands that depend on active
osmosis at the same time. Like all vertebrates, fish have kidneys
transport to move salt out of the
which play a big part in osmoregulation. So freshwater fish produce
body.
huge amounts of very dilute urine, which gets rid of the excess
water which gets into their bodies. They also have special salt
absorbing glands which use active transport to move salt against the
concentration gradient from the water into the fish – rather like the
situation in plant root cells.
Some marine birds and reptiles – such as flamingos and green
turtles – have the opposite problem. They take in a great deal of salt
in the sea water they drink, and their kidneys cannot get rid of it
all. The solution is special salt glands which are usually found near
the eyes and nostrils. Sodium ions are moved out of the body into
the salt glands which then produce a very strong salt solution – up
to six times more salty than their urine! The sodium ions have to
be moved against a very big concentration gradient, and so active
transport is involved in the survival of these marine creatures.
It isn’t just animals that have this problem. Mangrove swamps can
only survive in the salty water where they grow because many of the
species of mangroves have salt glands in the leaves. They remove the
excess salt that gets into their systems by active transport through
these glands.
Summary •
In this section you have learnt that: • Osmosis is a special type of diffusion where
• Diffusion is the net (overall) movement of only water moves across a selectively
particles from an area of high concentration permeable membrane, from an area of high
to an area of lower concentration. concentration of water to an area of lower
concentration of water.
• Diffusion takes place because of the
random movements of the particles of a gas • Cell membranes are selectively permeable
or of a substance in solution in water. so osmosis occurs frequently in plant and
animal cells.
• Diffusion is important in many processes
taking place in animals and plants. • Osmosis can be very useful to plants and
Examples include gaseous exchange in the animals, but it can cause many difficulties.
lungs, the absorption of digested food from • Both osmosis and diffusion can be
the gut and the entry of carbon dioxide demonstrated experimentally in the
into the leaves of plants. laboratory.
46 Grade 9

• when plant cells lose water by osmosis they • Cells which carry out a lot of active
become flaccid. when plant cells absorb transport often have many mitochondria to
water by osmosis they become turgid. provide the energy they need.
• In active transport substances are moved • Active transport is very important in cells
against a concentration gradient or across and whole organisms, for example in the
a selectively permeable membrane. movement of mineral ions into plant roots
• Active transport uses energy produced by and in the movement of excess salt out of
cellular respiration. the body via the salt glands in some marine
creatures.
Review questions
1. a) Why do sharks find an injured fish – or person – so easily?
b) What is meant by the net movement of particles?
c) What factors most affect the rate of diffusion?
2. a) How does osmosis differ from diffusion?
b) Why is it so important for animals to keep the concentration
of their body fluids constant?
c) Plants don’t have skeletons – instead, osmosis is an
important part of the plant support system. How does
osmosis keep plant stems rigid?
3. a) Explain how active transport works in a cell.
b) Give some examples of a situation when a substance cannot
be moved into a cell by osmosis or diffusion, and how active
transport solves the problem.
c) The processes of diffusion and osmosis do not need energy
to take place. Why does the organism have to provide
energy for active transport and where does it come from?

1. a) Why have microscopes been so important in developing
our understanding of cells?
b) Write a set of instructions that could be handed out with a
microscope to make sure that students use it properly.
2. What is the cell theory and who were the first scientists to have
the idea?
3. What happens in the cytoplasm of a cell?
4. What are enzymes and why are they so vital in the cell?
5. Why are organelles important in the structure of a cell?
6. The diagram opposite shows an unspecialised plant cell from a
blade of grass.
a) Copy the diagram and use words from the list given below
to help you label it.
cell membrane cell wall chloroplast cytoplasm
nucleus vacuole mitochondria
Grade 9 47

b) Name two parts of this grass cell that you would never see
in an animal cell.
7. Make a table to show the similarities and differences in
structure between unspecialised animal cells and unspecialised
plant cells.
8. How is a sperm cell specialised for its role in reproduction?
9. Read the following information about Chlamydomonas and
then answer the questions below.
Chlamydomonas is a single-celled organism that lives under
water. It has an eyespot that is sensitive to light and it can
move itself about. In fact, it ‘swims’ towards the light using
long flagella. It has a large chloroplast and uses the light to
photosynthesise, and it stores any excess food as starch. When
it is mature and has been in plenty of light it will reproduce by
splitting in two.
a) Chlamydomonas is a living organism. What features of
Chlamydomonas in this description show you this is true?
b) For many years scientists were not sure whether to classify
Chlamydomonas as an animal or a plant. Now it is put in a
separate group altogether!
i) What features suggest that Chlamydomonas is an animal
cell?
ii) What features suggest that Chlamydomonas is a plant
cell?
10. a) Why do cells become specialised in the human body?
b) Choose two different types of cells and explain how they
are adapted for the job they do in your body.
c) Describe the different levels of organisation in the human
body from cells to the whole body.
11. a) Explain using a diagram what would happen if you set up
an experiment with a partially permeable bag containing
strong sugar solution in a beaker full of pure water.
b) Explain using a diagram what would happen if you set up
an experiment using a partially permeable bag containing
pure water in a beaker containing strong sugar solution.
12. Animals which live in fresh water have a constant problem
with their water balance. The single-celled organism called an
amoeba has a special vacuole in every cell. It fills with water and
then moves to the outside of the cell and bursts. A new vacuole
starts forming straight away. Explain in terms of osmosis why
the amoeba needs one of these vacuoles.
13. Experiments on osmosis are often carried out using potato
cylinders. You have been asked to find out if sweet potato or
bread fruit would be a good alternative.
Describe in detail how you might find out if either of these
would be better than the traditional potato.
48 Grade 9

14. You have to produce some revision sheets on diffusion, osmosis

and active transport in living organisms. Use the examples
given here and in the unit to help you make the sheets as lively
and interesting as possible. Use any methods that help YOU to
remember things – and save the sheets to help you when exams
are approaching!
Copy this table into your exercise book (or your teacher may give
you a photocopy). Draw a pencil line through each of the words in
the list below as you find it.
Words go up and down in both directions
M I C R O S C O P E C A
A D H I V P E V E B T F
G I O B A E L S T A I N
N F S O C R L D U N S V
I F M S U M A I L C S A
F U O O G E N E O E U C
Y S S M R O S C O P E U
C I I E L E C T R O N O
E O S N U C L E U S T L
L N E A X E T U L O S E
R E S O L U T I O N E D
Word search: In this table you will find 15 words linked to cell
biology.
They are:
microscope sperm magnify tissue
ribosome electron solute stain
resolution cell gene diffusion
nucleus osmosis vacuole
Grade 9 49

Human biology and health Unit 3
Contents
3.1 Food and
• List the major nutrients needed by the human body and their sources.
nutrition
• List the main sources of some of the vitamins and minerals needed by the
(page 51) human body.
• Carry out laboratory tests to identify different nutrient groups in a food
sample.
• Explain the concept of a balanced diet and what it involves.
• Define nutrition and malnutrition and describe the effects of malnutrition
on the human body.
• Understand the concept of height/weight tables and how they can be
used to help maintain a healthy body mass.
• Analyse a local diet and if necessary suggest ways in which it might be
improved to become more balanced.
3.2 The digestive • Label a diagram of the human digestive system.

system • Describe the functions of the structures of the human digestive system.
(page 69) • Define enzymes and describe their role in the process of digestion.
• Describe the structure of the teeth and explain their importance.
• Describe the processes of digestion in the mouth, stomach and small
intestine.
• Demonstrate that starch digestion begins in the mouth using saliva
and bread.
• Explain how the products of digestion are absorbed and assimilated by
the body.
• Discuss constipation, care with canned, bottled and packed foods and
food hygiene as issues of digestive health.

3.3 The respiratory
• Explain the importance of breathing in humans.
system • Describe the structure and functions of the human respiratory system.
(page 82) • Examine the structure of a lung from an animal such as a cow or sheep.
• Explain the mechanism of breathing using a lung model.
• Explain the process of gas exchange.
• Demonstrate the presence of CO2, water vapour and heat in exhaled air.
• Compare the composition of inhaled and exhaled air.
• List the factors which affect breathing and explain how they affect it.
• Explain the effects of cigarette smoking and inhaling gaya, suret and
shisha on health and on the economy of the family.
• List the methods of maintaining the hygiene of breathing.
• Describe the steps followed during artificial respiration and be able to
demonstrate these steps.
3.4 Cellular
• Explain cellular respiration and describe the formation of ATP and its
respiration
importance to the body.
(page 99) • Define and compare aerobic and anaerobic respiration, and explain their
importance in cells.
50 Grade 9
M03_BIOL_SB_ETHG9_0087_U03.indd 50 1/6/10 1:10:10 pm

UNIT 3: Human biology and health
3.5 The
• Explain how oxygen and nutrients are transported in the blood.
circulatory • Indicate the structures of the heart on a diagram/model.
system
• Explain the functions of the structures of the heart.
(page 104) • Examine a mammalian heart using fresh or preserved specimens.
• Take your own pulse, counting the heartbeats using your fingers.
• List the three types of blood vessels.
• Explain the functions of the blood vessels.
• Name the components of the blood.
• Tell the functions of the components of the blood.
• List the four blood groups.
• Indicate the compatibility of the four blood groups.
• Explain the causes and prevention of anaemia and hypertension.
3.1 Food and nutrition

• List the major nutrients needed by the human body and
their sources.
• List the main sources of some of the vitamins and minerals
needed by the human body.
• Carry out laboratory tests to identify different nutrient
groups in a food sample.
• Explain the concept of a balanced diet and what it involves.
• Define nutrition and malnutrition and describe the effects
of malnutrition on the human body. KEY WORD
• Understand the concept of height/weight tables and how
heterotrophs organisms
they can be used to help maintain a healthy body mass.
that feed on other
• Analyse a local diet and if necessary suggest ways in which organisms
it might be improved to become more balanced.
People, like all living organisms, need a source

of energy to survive. In our case this is our food.
We are heterotrophs – we cannot make our
own energy supply by photosynthesis so we have
to eat other living things. Throughout human
history almost anything that can be eaten has
been eaten, and around the world the variety of
food taken in by people is still quite amazing.
However, it doesn’t matter what the food is –
from tibs to injera be wot, from kifto
to kocho – as long as it contains the right
balance of chemicals to provide your body with
everything it needs to live, grow and reproduce.
Figure 3.1 Food comes in all shapes and sizes – but
whatever it looks like, the chemicals it contains are
surprisingly similar.
Grade 9 51

Unit 3: Human biology and health
KEY WORDS The human diet

macronutrients food you What is food? Food is the source of nutrients and energy for the
need in large amounts body. It usually comes from animals or plants and is taken into the
carbohydrates major food body where it is broken down to provide the nutrients needed by
group made up of carbon, the body.
hydrogen and oxygen Each one of us has to take in all of the chemicals we need from the
proteins molecules made food that we eat. We use our food in three main ways:
up of amino acids that • To provide energy for our cells to carry out all the functions
are needed for the body to of life.
function properly • To provide the raw materials for the new biological material
minerals inorganic needed in our bodies to grow and also to repair and replace
compounds required by the damaged and worn out cells.
body for good health • To provide the resources needed to fight disease and maintain a
vitamins organic healthy body.
substances required by Some types of food are needed in large amounts – these are known
the body in order for it to as the macronutrients. There are six main classes of food needed
function properly by the body. The main macronutrients are carbohydrates, proteins
sucrose a complex and fats. Other substances are equally important in your diet,
carbohydrate found in but only in tiny amounts. They are known as the micronutrients
many plants and used as a and they include minerals and vitamins. You also need water.
sweetening agent In this section you are going to look at all of the most important
components of a healthy human diet.
glucose sugar made
by plants during
photosynthesis
Carbohydrates
photosynthesis the process Carbohydrates provide us with energy. Much of the carbohydrate
a plant uses to combine you take into your body is broken down to form glucose, which is
used in cellular respiration to produce energy in a form that can
sunlight, water, and carbon
be used in all your cells (see section 3.4). Your body stores very
dioxide to produce oxygen little carbohydrate apart from glycogen, which is found in your
and sugar (energy) liver, muscles and brain. Any excess carbohydrate that you eat is
starch a nutrient converted to fat, which is stored all too easily in your body.
carbohydrate required The most commonly known carbohydrates are the sugars and
by the body for healthy starches. You will already be familiar with a few types of sugar: the
functioning sugar that is such an important product of many African countries,
including Ethiopia, is known as sucrose; glucose is the sugar made
by plants in photosynthesis and it is vital in cells for energy. It is
also the energy supplier in sports and health drinks.
Another more complex carbohydrate known as starch is a storage
carbohydrate in plants and it is commonly found in teff and
potatoes. Carbohydrate-rich foods include anything containing
sugar or flour, such as injera, fatira and honey. Potatoes, rice and
dabo are also carbohydrate-rich foods.
The basic structure of all carbohydrates is the same. They are made
up of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen. They fall into three main types,
depending on the complexity of the molecules: simple sugars,
double sugars and complex sugars.
52 Grade 9

polymers or complex sugars have some very important biological

KEY WORDS
properties. They often form very compact molecules that are ideal
complex sugars when for storing energy. The sugar units can then be released when they
many single sugar units join are needed to supply energy. And as complex sugars are physically
to form a long chain and chemically very inactive, storing them does not interfere with
glycogen carbohydrate the other functions of the cell.
energy store found in Starch is one of the best-known complex sugars. It is particularly
animals important as an energy store in plants. The sugars produced by
cellulose the main photosynthesis are rapidly converted to starch. Particularly rich
constituent in plant cell sources are plant storage organs such as potatoes.
walls Glycogen is sometimes referred to as ‘animal starch’. It is the only
carbohydrate energy store found in animals. It is found mainly in
muscle and liver tissue, which is very active and needs a readily
available energy supply at all times.
Figure 3.4 Starch grains found in potato cells are larger than those
found in most plants.
Cellulose is an important structural material in plants. It is the
main constituent in plant cell walls. Just like starch and glycogen
it consists of long chains of glucose – but in this case the glucose
molecules are held together in a slightly different way. This is very
important, because human beings, and indeed most other animals,
cannot break down these linkages and so they cannot digest
cellulose.
So carbohydrates, from the simple sounding combination of carbon,
hydrogen and oxygen, form a very varied group of molecules whose
functions are vital to most living processes.
There are a number of chemical tests that you can carry out to test
for the presence of carbohydrates of different types. Here you are
given several tests which you can try first on known samples of
carbohydrates. Later you can use these same tests to discover the
chemical make-up of different foods that you eat.
54 Grade 9

Activity 3.1: Starch test

You will need: Method
• a 1% starch solution 1. Pour about 1 cm3 of starch solution into a clean test tube
made by boiling a mixture and the same volume of water into the other test tube.
of starch powder and cold 2. Add two drops of iodine solution to each tube.
water
3. Record your observations and conclusion in tabular form.
• two clean test tubes
The colour of iodine solution is
• iodine solution brown. Starch reacts with iodine
to form a characteristic blue-
black. In this test it is important
to note that there is no heating
involved. Only a few drops of
iodine solution are necessary.
Figure 3.5 The reaction of

iodine with starch solution
Activity 3.2: Benedict’s test for simple (reducing) sugars

Some sugars react readily Method
with Benedict’s solution. 1. Bring the water in the beaker to the boil, using the Bunsen
They reduce copper(II) ions burner.
to copper(I) ions and for
this reason they are known 2. In one boiling tube add water to a depth of about 2 cm –
as reducing sugars. So there this will act as your control.
is a straightforward chemical 3. In another tube add a sample of glucose powder and water
test for the reducing sugars. to a depth of about 2 cm.
The reducing sugars include
4. Place any food samples to be tested in other boiling tubes
all of the single sugars and
in the same way.
some double sugars.
5. Add a few drops of Benedict’s solution to each boiling tube.
You will need:
Add enough to colour the mixture blue.
• a Bunsen burner
6. Place the tubes in the boiling water and leave for several
• tripod, gauze and heat- minutes. TAKE CARE with the boiling water.
proof mat
7. If a reducing sugar is present the clear blue solution will
• a large beaker half filled change as an orangey-red precipitate appears.
with water
8. Write up your method and results, including the different
• some glucose powder or foods you have analysed.
food to be tested
• boiling tubes
• Benedict’s solution
• different food samples to Figure 3.6 Results of
analyse (e.g. bread, fruit) the Benedict’s test for
simple sugars before
and after heating
Grade 9 55

Proteins
Proteins are used for body-building. They are broken down in
digestion into amino acids that are then rebuilt to form the proteins
you need. Protein-rich food includes all meat and fish, dairy
products such as cheese and milk as well as pulses, such as white
pea beans, chick peas and red kidney beans.
About 17–18% of your body is made up of protein – a high
percentage second only to water. Your hair, skin, nails, the enzymes
that control all the reactions in your cells and digest your food,
many of the hormones that control your organs and their functions,
your muscles and much, much more depends on these complex
molecules. By understanding the way in which protein molecules
are made up and the things that affect their shape and functions,
you can begin to develop an insight into the biology not only of
your cells but also all living things.
Just like carbohydrates and fats, proteins are made up of the
elements carbon, hydrogen and oxygen, but in addition they all
contain nitrogen. Some proteins also contain sulphur and various
KEY WORDS other elements. Proteins are polymers, made up of many small
units joined together. These small units are called amino acids.
nitrogen a colourless,
In the same way that monosaccharide units join together to form
tasteless, odourless, polysaccharides, so amino acids combine in long chains to produce
gaseous chemical element proteins. There are about 20 different naturally occurring amino
amino acid building block acids and they can be joined together in any combination. Amino
of protein acids are joined together in a condensation reaction and a molecule
peptide link when amino of water is lost. The bond formed is known as a peptide link. The
acids are joined together long chains of amino acids then coil, twist, spiral and fold in on
in a condensation reaction themselves to make the complex structures we know as proteins.
The structure of the proteins is held together by cross-links between
and a molecule of water is
the different parts of the molecule, and they can end up with very
lost
complex 3-D structures, which are often very important to the way
they work in your body (see page 70 on enzymes).
condensation
+ + water
amino acid 1 amino acid 2 hydrolysis

dipeptide
+ water
long chain of amino acids
Figure 3.7 Amino acids are the building blocks of proteins and they
can be joined in a seemingly endless variety of ways to produce an
almost infinite variety of proteins.
Amino acids dissolve in water, but the properties of the proteins

that are produced vary greatly. Some proteins are insoluble in
water and are very tough, which makes them ideally suited to
structural functions within living things. These proteins are found
56 Grade 9

in connective tissue, in tendons and the matrix of bones (collagen),

Did you know?
in the structure of muscles, in the silk of spiders’ webs and silkworm
cocoons and as the keratin that makes up hair, nails, horns and There are some amino
feathers. acids that you must eat as
Others are soluble in water. These form antibodies, enzymes part of your diet because
and some hormones, and are also important for maintaining the your body cannot make
structure of the cytoplasm in your cells. them. They are known as
essential amino acids and
The complicated way in which the structures of proteins are built if they are lacking in your
up means that they can be relatively easily damaged and denatured. diet for too long you will
The relatively weak forces that hold the different parts of the amino die.
acid chains together can be disrupted very easily. As the functions
of most proteins rely very heavily on their structure, this means
that the entire biochemistry of cells and whole organisms is very KEY WORD
sensitive to changes that might disrupt their proteins. A rise in pH measure of the acidity
temperature of a few degrees or a change in pH is enough to destroy
or alkalinity of a solution
the 3-D structure of cellular proteins – and so destroy life itself.
This is why your body has so many complex systems that keep the
internal conditions as stable as possible and why very high fevers
are so dangerous and can lead to death.
Activity 3.3: Biuret test for proteins

When we test for proteins sometimes we add two separate
chemicals (5% potassium or sodium hydroxide solution and 1%
copper sulphate solution) to our test food.
You will need:
• test tubes
• 5% potassium or sodium hydroxide solution and 1% copper
sulphate solution OR
• Biuret reagent
• different food samples
Figure 3.8 Results of the
Method Biuret test for proteins
1. In one test tube add water to a depth of about 2 cm – this
will act as your control.
2. In another tube add a sample of protein powder, e.g.
albumin, and water to a depth of about 2 cm. Shake to mix.
3. Place any other food samples to be tested in other test
tubes in the same way.
4. Add an equal volume of dilute potassium or sodium
hydroxide solution in all the test tubes and mix.
5. Add a few drops of dilute copper sulphate solution. (If you
are using Biuret reagent steps 4 and 5 are combined in one.)
6. A purple (mauve) colour will develop if protein is present.
7. Write up your method and the results for the different foods
you have tested.
Grade 9 57

Lack of protein in the diet may well be linked to an overall lack

of energy intake, and results in a number of diseases known as
protein-energy malnutrition. The best known of these are marasmus
and kwashiorkor. In marasmus, both protein and overall energy
intake is far below what is needed by the body. An increase of both
protein and calories can save a child or adult. But if the body has
not got enough protein to make the enzymes it needs it can cause
death.
In contrast, kwashiorkor is thought to be caused by a lack of
protein in the diet even if the overall energy intake is reasonable.
It is particularly common around the time a child is weaned,
when a diet high in starchy foods and very low in protein is often
substituted for mother’s milk. It is important to introduce protein
Figure 3.9 Children suffering in limited amounts as the liver is damaged and can’t deal with any
from kwashiorkor can have excess.
big distended bellies, but the
plumpness is swelling due to lack
Fats and oils
of protein, not health.
Another group of organic chemicals that make up your body
KEY WORDS cells are the fats and oils, also known as the lipids. Lipids include
some of the highest profile chemicals in public health issues at the
lipids general name for fats moment – cholesterol and fat. Lipid-rich foods include anything
and oils containing large amounts of fats and oils. So, butter, beef fat, sesame
cholesterol compound oil, niger seed oil (nug) and olive oil are all lipids. Plant seeds like
produced by the body; groundnuts and coconuts are also lipid-rich, providing an energy-
raised blood levels indicate rich store for the embryo plant. Meat, oily fish and eggs are high in
lipids too. Any food that is cooked in fat or oil is also rich in lipids
a high risk of heart disease
and the energy that they supply.
oils viscous liquid at room
temperature Fats and oils are an extremely important group of chemicals with
major roles to play in your body. They are an important source of
glycerol a syrupy, sweet energy in your diet and they are the most effective energy store in
liquid obtained from fats your body – they contain more energy per gram than carbohydrates
and oils or proteins. This is why your body converts spare food into fat for
saturated fat with no use at a later date. Combined with other molecules, lipids also play
double bonds in the vital roles as hormones, in your cell membranes and in the nervous
structure system.
unsaturated fat with one All lipids are insoluble in water, but dissolve in organic solvents.
or more double bonds in its This is important because when they are present in your cells
structure they do not interfere with the many reactions that go on in the
cytoplasm, because the reacting chemicals are all dissolved in water.
single covalent bond
created when two atoms The best-known lipids are the fats and oils. They are chemically
share a single electron extremely similar, but fats, e.g. butter, are solids at room
temperature and oils, e.g. niger seed oil (nug), are liquids at room
double bonds created
temperature. The lipids found in animals are much more likely to be
when atoms share two solid at room temperature than plant lipids.
electrons
Just like the carbohydrates, the chemical elements that go into
all lipids are carbon, hydrogen and oxygen. There is, however, a
considerably lower proportion of oxygen in lipid molecules. Fats
and oils are made up of combinations of two types of organic
chemicals, fatty acids and glycerol.
58 Grade 9

Activity 3.4: Test for lipids

a) Filter paper test A permanent translucent mark is formed by lipids on paper.
The filter paper test is also A translucent mark is one that does not allow all the light
known as the grease spot or to pass through. If you squeeze a food sample between two
translucent mark test. bits of filter paper any water that has been squeezed out will
evaporate from the paper. Any lipids will leave a translucent
You will need: mark that does not dry out and disappear. However, this test,
• cooking oil or cooking fat although effective, is not very scientific because it does not
depend on a chemical reaction.
• a clean filter paper or
sheet of paper b) Emulsion test
• a dropper You will need:
Method • clean, dry test tubes – they MUST be dry
1. Put a drop of cooking fat • ethanol
(or smear a little cooking • cooking oil or cooking fat
fat) on a clean white
sheet of paper. Method
2. Leave the paper for a few 1. Place a sample of ethanol in a dry test tube to a depth of
minutes. about 2 cm.
3. Examine the spot where 2. Place a small sample of oil/cooking fat or a food sample in
the cooking oil was a dry test tube and add a similar amount of ethanol.
dropped while holding the 3. Shake the tube to dissolve any lipid in the ethanol.
paper against light (not a
flame!). Use light coming 4. Take two more test tubes and about half fill each with
in through the window or water.
from the electric bulb or 5. Carefully pour the contents of the tube containing the oil,
tube. fat or food sample into one of the tubes containing water.
6. Pour about 2 cm3 pure ethanol into the other tube
containing water and compare the two.
7. If lipid is present, a white, cloudy
layer forms on top of the layer of
water.
8. Use this test to investigate a number
of common foods and find out if they
contain lipids.
9. Write up your method and the results
of any foods you have tested.
Figure 3.12 Results of the ethanol
test for fats
60 Grade 9

Minerals KEY WORDS

It isn’t just carbohydrates, proteins and fats that are important in calcium(Ca) important
your food. Mineral salts are needed in minute amounts, but lack of constituent of bones and
them in your diet can lead to a variety of unpleasant conditions. teeth, needed for many
For example, you need calcium (Ca) in your diet to make your metabolic processes
bones and teeth hard and strong. Without it, children develop
iron(Fe) vital for making
rickets where the bones stay soft and cannot support the weight of
the body so the legs become bowed. Milk and other dairy products
haemoglobin in red blood
such as ergoo and ayeeb are a very good source of this calcium. cells
However, calcium alone is not enough to protect you from rickets. haemoglobin red pigment
You also need vitamin D (see Vitamins). in the blood cells that
Iron (Fe) is vital to make the haemoglobin found in your red blood carries oxygen around the
cells that carry oxygen around your body (see section 3.5). If your body
diet lacks iron you will suffer from anaemia. Iron is found in food sodium vital element
such as red meat, liver, red teff and eggs. Without iron you don’t needed by the body for
have enough haemoglobin in your red blood cells – in fact you can survival, by maintaining
lack red blood cells – and so you don’t get enough oxygen in the fluid levels
tissues of your body. This makes you look pale (lack of red blood
deficiency disease any
cells) and feel tired and lethargic (lack of oxygen).
disease caused by a lack of
Your mineral needs change throughout your life – growing children an essential nutrient
need plenty of calcium for their bones to grow, whereas girls and
women who have menstrual periods need more iron than others to
replace the blood lost each month in their periods.
The sodium ions found in your food and in the salt we often add to
food are needed to survive. Without it, your nervous system would
Table 3.2 Several of the main minerals needed in the diet and the deficiency diseases associated with them
Mineral Approximate Location or role in Examples of foods Effects of deficiency
mass in an adult body rich in mineral
body (g)
Calcium 1000 Making bones and Dairy products, fish, Rickets
teeth bread, vegetables
Phosphorus 650 Making teeth and Most foods Improper formation
bones; part of many of teeth and bones;
chemicals, e.g. DNA failure of metabolism
Sodium 100 In body fluids, e.g. Common salt, most Muscular cramps
blood foods
Chlorine 100 In body fluids, e.g. Common salt, most Muscular cramps
blood foods
Magnesium 30 Making bones; found Green vegetables Skeletal problems;
inside cells cell chemistry
affected, defects in
metabolism
Iron 3 Part of haemoglobin Red meat, liver, Anaemia
in red blood cells; eggs, green leafy
helps carry oxygen vegetables, e.g.
spinach
Grade 9 61

KEY WORDS not work and the chemistry of all your cells would be in chaos.
But for about a third of the population, too much salt in your diet
night blindness inability can lead to high blood pressure. This can damage your heart and
to see clearly in dim light kidneys and increase your risk of a stroke. In some countries people
due to vitamin A deficiency can eat too much salt each day without knowing it. That’s because
beri-beri deficiency disease many processed, ready-made foods contain large amounts of salt.
from lack of vitamin B But you can control your salt intake by doing your own cooking –
or by reading the labels very carefully when you buy ready-made
food. In fact there is enough salt in the cells of the animals and
Did you know? plants we eat to supply our needs without adding any extra for
flavour. Table 3.2 shows you several of the main minerals needed in
If you ate a polar bear’s the diet and the deficiency diseases associated with them.
liver you would die of
vitamin A poisoning.
Mammals store vitamin A Vitamins
in their livers. The liver of a Just like minerals, vitamins are needed in very small amounts.
polar bear is so rich in the They are usually complex organic substances that are nevertheless
vitamin that eating only capable of being absorbed directly into your bloodstream from the
500 g (half a pound) would gut. If any particular vitamin is lacking from your diet in the long
give you a lethal dose of term it will result in a deficiency disease. Different foods are rich
vitamin A. in different vitamins and it is important to take in a range of all the
important vitamin-rich foods in your diet. For example, vitamin A
is needed to make the light-sensitive chemicals in the retina of your
eye (you will learn more about the eye in Grade 10). If your diet
lacks vitamin A – found in fish liver oils, butter and carrots – your
eyesight is affected and you find it almost impossible to see in low
light levels. This is known as night blindness.
Vitamin B1, found in yeast extract and cereals, is needed for the
reactions of cellular respiration to take place. If you don’t eat
enough of it you get a condition called beri-beri, when your
muscles waste away and you become paralysed. It can be fatal.
Lack of vitamin C causes scurvy, which used to kill many thousands
of sailors as they travelled the world in sailing ships. Vitamin C is
Figure 3.13 The liver of a polar needed for the formation of the connective tissue which holds your
bear could kill you! body together! You find vitamin C in fruits, particularly citrus fruits
and green vegetables, and once people started to take limes and
lemons on sea voyages, scurvy became a thing of the past.
Table 3.3 Several of the main vitamins needed in the diet and the deficiency diseases associated with them
Vitamin Recommended Use in the body Some good sources of Effect of
daily amount the vitamin deficiency
in diet
A 0.8 mg Making a chemical in the Fish liver oils, liver, Night blindness;
retina; also protects the butter, margarine, carrots damaged cornea
surface of the eye of eye
B1 1.4 mg Helps with cell respiration Yeast extract, cereals Beri-beri
C 60 mg Sticks together cells lining Fresh fruits and Scurvy
surfaces such as the mouth vegetables
D 5g Helps bones absorb Fish liver oils; also made Rickets; poor
calcium and phosphorus in skin in sunlight teeth
62 Grade 9

Vitamin D is needed for your bones to take up the calcium they

KEY WORDS
need to grow strong. Vitamin D is found in fish liver oils and it
is also made in your skin in the sunlight. If children don’t have scurvy a disease caused by
enough vitamin D in their diet, or don’t get enough sunlight, they lack of vitamin C in the diet
will get rickets even if they have plenty of calcium. retinol vitamin A
Table 3.3 summarises four of the most common vitamins, the best calciferol vitamin D
food sources for them and the problems that can arise if they are thiamine vitamin B1
deficient in your diet. These deficiency diseases can be avoided
or remedied using vitamin supplements if it isn’t possible to get
them all from the food you eat. The vitamins were given letters to
distinguish them in the days before scientists had discovered exactly
what each vitamin was. Although we now know all their chemical
names, they are still usually referred to as vitamin A (retinol),
vitamin D (calciferol), etc. Some vitamins are soluble in water and
these include vitamin B1 (thiamine) and vitamin C. Others are fat
soluble, including vitamins A and D.
Activity 3.5: Testing for vitamin C

You will need: Method
• freshly squeezed orange 1. Pour about 3 cm3 of DCPIP into a clean test tube.
or lemon juice 2. Using a dropper, add orange or lemon juice drop by drop to
• DCPIP (dichlorophenol DCPIP in the test tube.
indophenol) reagent 3. What happens to the colour of DCPIP?
• three clean test tubes 4. Record your observations in a table.
• test tube rack
• pipette or dropper Discussion
• water Vitamin C is present in citrus fruits like oranges and lemons.
Other fruits like tomatoes and apples also contain vitamin
C. A gradual fading of the blue colour of DCPIP in the above
experiment shows that vitamin C is present in orange juice.
This is because vitamin C has a reducing action on the DCPIP
reagent which makes it lose its colour.
Investigation
Design and carry out a suitable experiment to find out which
fruits contain the greatest concentration of vitamin C.
Activity 3.5a: Copy and complete

Table 3.3 provides details of four important vitamins. There are, however, a number of other
vitamins that our bodies need. Copy the following table into your exercise book and complete it
with as many more vitamins as you can find: conduct your research using reference books, the
Internet, your teacher, and any other sources you can think of.
Vitamin Recommended Use in the body Some good sources of Effect of

daily amount the vitamin deficiency
in diet
Grade 9 63

KEY WORDS The role of water

urea the main component Another vital constituent of a balanced diet is water. An average
of urine person can survive with little or no food for days if not weeks,
but a complete lack of water will bring about death in 2–4 days,
hydrolysis reaction
depending on other conditions such as temperature. Your body is
chemical reaction of a
actually between 60 and 70% water, depending on your age, how
compound with water much you have drunk recently, etc. So it is not surprising that water
nutrition the obtaining of is crucial in your body for a number of reasons, including:
food in order to survive • All of the chemical reactions which take place in your body take
place in solution in water – it is a vital solvent.
• Water is involved in the transport of substances around the body
– food, hormones, waste products such as urea and many other
substances are all carried around your body in solution in water
as part of your blood.
• Water is involved in temperature regulation as you lose heat from
your body through sweating (you will learn more about this in
Grade 10).
• Water is involved in the removal of waste materials from your
body in the urine and in your sweat (see section 3.2).
• Water is a reactant in many important reactions in the body – for
example, as you will discover later in this section, many food
molecules are broken down in hydrolysis reactions where water
is added.
• Water is needed for the osmotic stability of the body (see page
39, on osmosis in animals). The concentration of the chemicals
in your cells and in the body fluids surrounding them must be
kept constant. If there is not enough water in the blood and
tissue fluid, the body cells lose water by osmosis and can no
longer function, causing death.
Fibre in the diet

A final important part of a healthy diet is something that you can’t
even digest or absorb. Roughage or fibre cannot be broken down
in the human gut, yet it is an essential part of your diet because it
provides bulk for the intestinal muscles to work on. It also absorbs
lots of water. In a diet low in roughage the movements of the gut
which transport the food through it (peristalsis) are sluggish and
the food moves through the gut relatively slowly. This can result in
constipation.
Why is a balanced diet important?

Nutrition is obtaining food in order to carry out life processes.
Nutrition in plants involves manufacturing their own food in the
process of photosynthesis (you will learn more about this in Grade
10). In animals, including ourselves, nutrition involves taking in
food based on other living organisms.
64 Grade 9

Wherever you live and whatever the basis of your diet, it is not
KEY WORDS
enough simply to get food. The right balance of food is of enormous
importance to your overall health and well-being. A balanced balanced diet taking food
diet includes enough of all the major food groups (carbohydrates, from all major food groups
proteins, lipids, minerals, vitamins and water) to supply the energy in order to maintain a
and nutrients needed to maintain the cells, tissues and organs of healthy body
your body in a healthy state. A balanced diet supports healthy undernutrition too little
growth and development of your body when it is needed. If too
food is eaten
undernutrition or too much food is taken in
little food is eaten (undernutrition)
(overnutrition), ), or any one element of the diet is lacking then you overnutrition too much
will suffer from malnutrition. Malnutrition affects the health of food is eaten
millions of people all over the world. malnutrition diet is lacking
One of the most important factors in a balanced diet is that enough in important elements
food is eaten to supply your energy needs. But how much energy needed for a healthy body
is that? The amount of energy you need to live depends on lots of
different things. Some of these things you can change and some you
can’t. If you are male, you will need to take in more energy than a
female of the same age – unless she is pregnant. During pregnancy
the energy needs of a woman increase steadily as she has to provide
the raw materials for a developing baby and supply the energy it
needs to live. If you are a teenager, you will need more energy than
if you are in your 70s. Figure 3.14 A balanced diet
The amount of exercise you do affects the amount of energy you use contains a wide variety of foods
up. If you do very little exercise, then you don’t that give you everything you need.
need so much food. The more you exercise the
more food you need to take in to supply energy
to your muscles as they work.
Table 3.4 Daily energy needs

Age/sex/occupation of Energy needed
person per day (kj)
Newborn baby 2000
Child aged 2 5000
Child aged 6 7500
Girl aged 12–14 9000
Boy aged 12–14 11 000
Girl aged 15–17 9000
Boy aged 15–17 12 000
Female offi ce worker 9500
Male offi ce worker 10 500
Heavy manual worker 15 000
Pregnant woman 10 000
Figure 3.15 Athletes who spend a lot of time training
Breastfeeding woman 11 300 and taking part in sport will have a great deal of
Woman aged 75+ 7610 muscle tissue on their bodies – up to 40% of their body
mass. So they have to eat a lot of food to supply the
Man aged 75+ 8770
energy they need.
Grade 9 65

Did you know? People who exercise regularly are usually much fitter than people
who take little exercise. They make bigger muscles – and muscle
Between 60 and 75% of tissue burns up much more energy than fat. But exercise doesn’t
your daily energy needs always mean time spent training or ‘working out’ in the gym.
are used up in the basic Walking to school, running around the house and garden, looking
reactions needed to keep after small children or having a physically active job all count as
you alive. 10% is needed exercise too.
to digest your food – and
only the final 15–30% is Malnutrition due to too little food is a major problem in many
affected by your physical parts of the world. Yet it is also important that too much food is
activity! not consumed. As you have seen the energy requirements of each
individual vary depending on their age, sex and levels of activity. If
you take in more energy than you need, the excess is stored as fat
and obesity may result. In the developed world, overeating and the
Did you know?
health issues linked to it are becoming more and more of a problem.
Most of us look about Up to a third of the population of America is thought to be seriously
the right size but there overweight, mainly due to eating a diet rich in high-energy fat.
will always be extremes. You need some body fat to cushion your internal organs and to act
Some people are very as an energy store for when you don’t feel like eating. But when this
overweight and others is taken to extremes, and you consistently eat more food than you
appear unnaturally thin. need, you may end up obese, with a BMI of over 30.
Scientists and doctors don’t
just measure what you Our Ethiopian diet contains a wide range of foods, and by eating
weigh. They look at your a good combination we can easily achieve a balanced diet. For
body/mass index or BMI. example, a daily menu such as:
This compares your weight Breakfast: bread and groundnuts or chick peas with tea or milk
to your height in a simple
Lunch: kei wot with injera and orange or banana
formula:
Dinner: shiro wot with injera and fresh green pepper
weight
BMI = These meals would give you a good balanced diet. If food is short
(height)2
in times of drought or other difficulty, then the diet becomes
Most people have a BMI unbalanced and lacking in calories and various nutrients. On the
in the range 20–30. But, if other hand, if we are tempted by too much processed or fried food
you have a BMI of below then we can become obese and put ourselves at risk. Use activity 3.6
18.5, or above 35, then you to help you think about balanced diet and good nutrition.
may have some real health
problems. Activity 3.6: A diet diary
In this activity you should record everything you eat and drink
every day for a week. Decide how you want to display your
record – a table is a useful tool – and note down everything
you eat at meal times. Also note down anything you eat
between meals.
Analyse your food each day and decide if you have eaten
something from all of the main food groups. At the end of the
week, think carefully about your diet. Is it balanced? If not,
how could you improve it? If it is balanced, could you make it
better still?
66 Grade 9

Summary Did you know?

In this section you have learnt that: The heaviest man ever
• A balanced diet contains carbohydrates, proteins, lipids, recorded was Jon Brower
minerals, vitamins and water in the right proportions to keep Minnoch (USA, 1941–83)
your body functioning effectively. Fibre is also important. He was 185 cm (6’1”) tall
and was overweight all
• Carbohydrates are the main energy supply for the body. his life. At his heaviest
Carbohydrates are found as simple sugars, double sugars and he weighed 635 kg. The
complex sugars. heaviest recorded woman
• Iodine is used to test for the presence of starch and was another American,
Benedict’s solution for the presence of simple reducing Rosie Bradford, who
sugars. weighed 544 kg in 1987.
• Proteins are used as the building blocks of the body. They
are made up of small units called amino acids.
• The Biuret test using 5% sodium hydroxide solution and 1%
copper sulphate solution is used to show the presence of
protein in the food.
• Lipids are fats and oils. They provide energy for the body.
They are made up of fatty acids and glycerol.
• The translucent smear test and the ethanol test identifies
lipids in foods.
• Iron is needed in the body for the production of
haemoglobin to carry oxygen in the red blood cells. Lack of
iron in your diet causes anaemia.
• Calcium is needed for healthy bones and teeth. Lack of
calcium in your diet can cause rickets.
• Vitamins are needed in small amounts for your cells to work
properly. Vitamins A, B1, C and D are all vital for health. Figure 3.16 Manuel Uribe who
holds the record for being the
• Malnutrition is when your diet is unbalanced. This can
fattest man in the world at the
result from too little food, when you are at risk of deficiency
moment. At his peak he weighed
diseases, and also too much food, which can give rise to
559 kg.
obesity.
Review questions
1. Which of the following is NOT part of a balanced diet?
A carbohydrates
B proteins
C cellulose
D lipids
2. Which of the following molecules are the building blocks of
proteins?
A monosaccharides
B glycerol
C fatty acids
D amino acids
Grade 9 67

3. Which of the following groups are classed as macronutrients?

A proteins, minerals, vitamins
B carbohydrates, proteins, fats
C fats, fibre, folic acid
D carbohydrates, proteins, milk
4. Vitamin A is also known as:
A tocopherol
B retinol
C ascorbic acid
D calciferol
5. In what type of reaction do fatty acids and glycerol join together
to form lipids?
A hydrolysis
B condensation
C reduction
D oxidation
6. A student carried out a Benedict’s test on an unknown food
sample and the blue liquid turned orange when it was heated.
What food substance was present?
A protein
B starch
C simple sugar
D lipid
7. Which of the following will NOT cause obesity, even if you eat
very large amounts of it in your diet?
A fat
B fibre
C carbohydrate
D protein
68 Grade 9

3.2 The digestive system

• Label a diagram of the human digestive system.
• Describe the functions of the structures of the human digestive system.
• Define enzymes and describe their role in the process of digestion.
• Describe the structure of the teeth and explain their importance.
• Describe the processes of digestion in the mouth, stomach and small intestine.
• Demonstrate that starch digestion begins in the mouth using saliva and bread.
• Explain how the products of digestion are absorbed and assimilated by the body.
• Discuss constipation, care with canned, bottled and packed foods and food hygiene
as issues of digestive health.
Carbohydrates provide the body with an energy source for

respiration. Proteins are needed for building new cells and repairing
old ones. Lipids are also an energy source and they provide a way
of storing spare energy. However, in the form that they are usually
eaten neither carbohydrates, proteins nor fats are useful to the body.
The link between what comes in and what the body needs is the
digestive system.
The human body needs small, soluble molecules to use in all the
reactions of metabolism such as releasing energy and making new
larger molecules. The food we eat usually arrives in the system
as large chunks bitten off by the teeth, chunks that contain large
insoluble molecules such as starch, proteins and fats. These large
molecules cannot be absorbed into the bloodstream and used by
your body so they need to be broken down into smaller, simpler,
soluble molecules. This is the main job of the digestive system –
food substances are broken down into small soluble molecules as
they pass through the gut. As you have seen earlier in this chapter,
the large molecules that make up the carbohydrates, proteins and
fats are built up from small molecules that are joined together by
condensation reactions, with a molecule of water being lost each
time. When these large molecules are broken down during digestion
it involves the opposite process – hydrolysis (splitting with water)
reactions. As water molecules are added to the large food molecules,
the monomer units, whether they are simple sugars, amino acids or
fatty acids, are released.
hydrolysis
O + H2O OH + HO
condensation
Figure 3.17 The large food molecules are broken down by hydrolysis
reactions – the opposite of the condensation reactions by which they
are built up in the first place.
Grade 9 69

The working of your digestive system is based on two things:

• The physical (or mechanical) breakdown of the food: The food
you eat is physically broken down into smaller pieces in two
main ways. Your teeth bite and chew the food up in your mouth.
Then your gut, which is a muscular tube, squeezes the food and
physically breaks it up, while mixing it with various digestive
juices to make it easier to move. By breaking the food up in this
way, there is a much larger surface area for the digestive enzymes
to work on.
• The chemical breakdown of the food: The large insoluble food
molecules must be broken down by hydrolysis reactions into
small, soluble molecules so they can be absorbed into your body.
This chemical breakdown is controlled by enzymes. Enzymes are
proteins that speed up (catalyse) other reactions. They do not
actually take part in the reaction or change it in any way except
to make it happen faster. Enzymes are biological catalysts that
usually work best under very specific conditions of temperature
Figure 3.18 A piece of meat is and pH.
broken down by hydrochloric acid
in a few days – but we can’t wait More about enzymes
that long to get energy and useful Enzymes play a vital role in digestion – but that is not all they do.
chemicals from our food. In the For life to carry on successfully it is important that the hundreds
human stomach a similar piece of reactions that occur in your body, making new materials and
of meat is broken down in a few breaking things down, take place in a rapid and controlled way. This
hours, thanks to the action of the control is brought about by biological catalysts known as enzymes.
enzyme pepsin. Enzymes are made of protein, and like any catalyst are not affected
by the reaction they speed up, so they can be used many times.
Did you know? Enzymes are very specific – each type of reaction that takes place in
your body is controlled by a specific enzyme that does not catalyse
Your gut is actually a any other type of reaction. Some enzymes work inside your cells
hollow tube that runs (intracellular enzymes) and some of them are secreted into organs
from your mouth to your of your body such as the gut where they catalyse specific reactions
anus. Some things (such (extracellular enzymes). The digestive enzymes are extracellular –
as a bead or a penny) can they work outside your cells in the lumen of your gut.
be taken in at the mouth
and reappear completely Enzyme names usually (but not always) end in –ase, e.g. amylase
unchanged at the other breaks down starch, lipase breaks down fats, catalase breaks down
end. Do NOT try this – hydrogen peroxide – but pepsin breaks down proteins!
objects can get stuck and
block the tube, making you
very ill.
70 Grade 9

Activity 3.7: Investigating the activity of amylase

Amylase is an enzyme that is Method
made in the salivary glands 1. Place drops of iodine solution in the depressions on both of
in your mouth and in your the spotting tiles.
pancreas; it catalyses the
breakdown of starch to the 2. Place 5 cm3 of starch suspension in each of two boiling tubes,
sugar maltose. You can use one labelled starch and the other labelled starch/amylase.
the reaction of starch with 3. Place 5 cm3 of amylase solution in another boiling tube,
iodine solution to indicate labelled amylase.
how quickly the enzyme
does its job – and use this 4. Place the three tubes in the water bath at 30 °C. Leave for
to investigate the effect of five minutes for the temperatures to equilibrate.
temperature on the way the 5. Measure out 5 cm3 of amylase solution and add it to the
enzyme works. labelled boiling tube of starch.
You will need: 6. Start the stopwatch and immediately take a small sample of
• amylase solution the starch/amylase mixture and add it to the first drop of
iodine on the spotting tile.
• starch suspension
7. Take regular samples of the mixture – every 30 seconds –
• iodine solution
for about ten minutes and record the colour of the iodine each
• a stopwatch or clock with time.
clear second hand
8. At the end of the ten minutes, test a sample of the simple
• two spotting tiles or starch suspension in one well of the spotting tile and compare
white tiles it with the sample which has been mixed with amylase. This
• beaker of water heated to will confirm that any change is due to the enzyme rather than
30 °C the temperature of the solutions.
• boiling tubes 9. This investigation can be repeated with the starch suspension
• two 5 cm syringes or
3 and the starch/amylase mixture kept at a range of different
pipettes temperatures and the results recorded in a table like the one
shown below:
• thermometer
• marker pen Colour of iodine/starch/amylase mixture
at different temperatures
Time (min) 20 °C 30 °C 40 °C 50 °C 60 °C
0.5
1.0
1.5
2.0 etc.
10.0
10. You can make a graph of your results, looking at the time
taken to break down all the starch at different temperatures
or looking at the rate at which the enzyme broke down 1 cm3
of starch at each temperature.
11. Write up your investigation, explain your results and suggest
ways in which your investigation could be made more
reliable.
Grade 9 71

KEY WORDS The working of the gut

ingestion taking in food The process by which the food you eat is taken into your body,
mastication chewing broken down and used by your cells, with the indigestible material
removed, is very complex and it involves the various areas of your
enamel the top surface of digestive system or gut.
teeth
As we eat our food, it sets off on a journey of digestion. The first
stage is ingestion, or taking foodstuff into your body through
the mouth. We bite off a chunk of food using our teeth, and then
physically chop the food up into smaller pieces by chewing it. Your
teeth play a very important role at the beginning of the process
of digestion, physically breaking down your food and providing a
greater surface area for your digestive enzymes to work on. This
process is known as mastication.
salivary gland
mouth
tongue oesophagus
(gullet)
trachea
(windpipe)
liver
stomach
gall bladder
pancreas
duodenum
small
intestine
ileum
colon
large
appendix intestine
rectum
anus
Figure 3.19 The human digestive system
Teeth have evolved to be very strong – in fact the enamel that
covers them is the strongest substance made by the human body.
Teeth are needed for a variety of different jobs – gripping food,
tearing food and chewing food, for example. The shape of different
teeth means they are ideally suited to their different functions.
Because humans have a very varied diet (we are omnivores so we eat
animals and plants) we also have a variety of different types of teeth.
The incisors and canines are used for biting while the premolars and
molars are used for chewing and crushing food.
72 Grade 9

All of your teeth have a similar make-up. The top surface is covered enamel
dentine
by a layer of non-living enamel, and under this is the living dentine.
This is not as hard as enamel, but it is still very hard, being similar pulp cavity
to bone. In the centre of the tooth is the pulp cavity, which contains containing
nerves and blood vessels. The dentine contains many fine channels nerves
crown and blood
filled with cytoplasm. These are supplied with oxygen and nutrients vessels
by the blood vessels in the pulp cavity. Your teeth are set into your gum
jaw bone, and they are held in place by a layer of fibrous cement.
This cement keeps your teeth firmly in place but at the same time
allows a certain amount of flexibility as you are chewing.
Your adult teeth should last you all through your life. This doesn’t
root
always happen, because your teeth can be affected by the bacteria bone of
that cause dental caries. There are many different bacteria that are jaw
found naturally in your mouth. These bacteria, combined with food
and saliva, form a thin film known as plaque on your teeth. If these
cement
bacteria are given a sugar-rich diet (in other words, if you eat a lot of fibres attaching
sweet, sugary food) they produce a lot of acid waste. This acid attacks tooth to jawbone
and dissolves the tough enamel coating of your teeth. Once through
the enamel, the acid also dissolves away some of the dentine and then Figure 3.20 The structure of teeth
the bacteria can get into the inside of your tooth. The bacteria will makes them very well adapted to
then reproduce and feed, eating away at your tooth until they reach their various functions.
the nerves of the pulp cavity causing toothache. The bacteria and the
acid they produce can eat away at your teeth to the extent that they KEY WORDS
break up completely if you don’t get effective dental treatment.
dentine living layer
What’s more, the bacteria don’t only attack your teeth. The same
underneath tooth enamel
bacteria can affect your gums, causing periodontal disease. The
symptoms include tender gums, bleeding when you clean your teeth pulp cavity centre of the
and eventually the possible loss of all your teeth, not from tooth tooth which contains nerves
decay but from gum disease. and blood vessels
Taking in lots of acidic food and drink, such as fruits and cola, can cement fibrous layer that
also weaken the enamel on your teeth. This is particularly the case if holds the teeth into the jaw
you clean your teeth straight after an acidic drink such as fruit juice bone
or cola, when the softening effect on the enamel is strongest and periodontal disease
brushing your teeth can actually wear the enamel away. bacterial infection of the
Tooth and gum disease are extremely common all over the world. gums
They cause pain, bad breath, loss of teeth and difficulty eating. The
good news is that they can both be avoided, especially if you have
good dental care available. Ways to avoid tooth decay include:
• Regular brushing of your teeth and gums twice a day. This
removes the plaque from the teeth, preventing the build-up of a
sticky, acidic film over the enamel.
• Avoiding sweet, sugary foods – if the bacteria in your teeth are
deprived of sugar, they cannot make acidic waste and your teeth
are safe.
If they are available:
• Have regular dental check-ups. A dentist can clean your teeth
Figure 3.21 Tooth decay not only
more thoroughly than you can, and any early signs of decay can
causes pain and bad breath – it
be treated. Your teeth won’t heal themselves, but any tooth decay
doesn’t look very nice either!
can be removed and replaced by a filling.
Grade 9 73

DID YOU KNOW? Moving the food on

Around 40 million people The breaking down of your food into smaller pieces by the chewing
in America have lost all of your teeth isn’t the only part of digestion that takes place in
their own teeth and have to your mouth. Your food is also coated in saliva from the salivary
wear dentures (false teeth)! glands. Saliva contains a carbohydrase enzyme called amylase.
They use tiny amounts of Carbohydrases break down carbohydrates. The amylase in your
fluoride in their toothpaste saliva begins the digestion of the starch in complex carbohydrates
and water to help them such as bread or potatoes, turning it into simpler sugars. The saliva-
prevent tooth decay. Here coated chunk of food (known as a bolus) moves to the back of your
in Ethiopia, some of our throat to be swallowed. Swallowing is a reflex action that takes place
water- courses contain when food reaches the back of your throat. As you swallow, your
so much fluoride that it epiglottis closes over the trachea, preventing food going down into
damages our teeth. We use your lungs; you can’t swallow and breathe in at the same time. If you
defluorination plants to take try to, you will choke and your body will produce violent coughing
fluoride out of our water to and heaving movements to make sure the food doesn’t get down
protect our teeth and keep into your lungs, where it can cause serious problems.
them healthy! When your food is swallowed it travels down the oesophagus or
gullet, squeezed along by muscular contractions known as peristalsis.
As a result you can eat at any angle you like – even standing on
KEY WORDS your head – because food does not rely on gravity to arrive in
your stomach. Peristalsis is not confined to your oesophagus – it is
carbohydrase an enzyme in important all the way through your gut to move the food through as
saliva it is digested, to mix the food with the digestive enzymes produced
bolus a saliva-coated chunk in the various parts of the gut and to continue the physical break-up
of chewed food of the food. The walls of your gut have a layer of circular muscles
forming rings around it and a layer of longitudinal muscles that run
reflex an automatic the length of the gut. Waves of alternate contraction and relaxation of
reaction in the body that the different muscles (see figure 3.23) move food through from one
cannot be controlled end of the gut to the other.
oesophagus passage that
food travels down from
mouth to stomach
peristalsis wavelike muscle tongue pushes
food to back of
contractions to move food mouth
along
food trachea
oesophagus
epiglottis
(covers
entrance to
trachea)
Figure 3.22 The swallowing reflex means you don’t get food down into
your lungs – and you can’t breathe in while you are swallowing food.
74 Grade 9

longitudinal muscle layer

Stomach churning activity
circular muscles contract
At the lower end of the oesophagus your food passes through a ring
of muscle called a sphincter into your stomach. This sphincter is position of food
usually closed except when you are swallowing food, or being sick.
The stomach is a muscular bag that produces protease enzymes to
digest protein. The main protease made in the stomach is pepsin.
The stomach also produces a relatively concentrated solution of
hydrochloric acid. This acid kills most of the bacteria that are taken
in with our food. The acid also helps indirectly in the breakdown direction of peristalsis
of the protein in your food, because pepsin works best in acid circular muscles relax
conditions. Your stomach also makes a thick layer of mucus, which
circular muscle layer
protects the muscle walls from being digested by the protease
enzymes and attacked by the acid. The muscles of your stomach Figure 3.23 Muscular action in
squeeze the contents into a thick creamy paste containing partly your gut pushes the food along.
digested protein along with all the rest of your food.
After a time – usually between one and four hours – a paste of
partly digested food is squeezed out of the stomach through another KEY WORDS
sphincter into the first part of the small intestine known as the sphincter ring of muscle
duodenum. As soon as it arrives the food is mixed with two more
liquids: bile and enzymes. stomach muscular bag that
produces protease enzymes
Bile to digest protein
pepsin enzyme that breaks
Bile is a greenish-yellow alkaline liquid that is produced in the liver
down proteins
(a large reddish-brown organ that carries out lots of important jobs
in the body). It is made by the liver cells and then stored in the gall hydrochloric acid produced
bladder until it is needed. As food comes into the duodenum from in the stomach to kill
the stomach, bile is squirted onto the stomach contents. The bile bacteria
does two important jobs: gall bladder muscular sac
• It neutralises the acid from the stomach and makes the semi- connected to the liver that
digested food alkaline. This is ideal for the enzymes in the stores bile
small intestine, which work most effectively in an alkaline bile produced by the liver
environment. to aid in breakdown of food
• Bile also emulsifies the fats in your food – it breaks down large in the duodenum
drops of fat into smaller droplets. This provides a much bigger
surface area of fats for the lipase enzymes to work on to break
down the fats completely into fatty acids and glycerol.
Enzymes
Rate of reaction
of pepsin
The first part of the small intestine (the duodenum) cannot make
its own enzymes, but this doesn’t matter because they are supplied
by the pancreas. Part of the pancreas makes the hormone insulin,
which helps to control your blood sugar levels (you will learn more
0 2 4 6
about this in Grade 10). The rest of the pancreas makes and stores
pH
enzymes that digest carbohydrates, proteins and fats. As food enters
Figure 3.24 The protein-digesting
the small intestine from the stomach these enzymes are released to
enzymes of the stomach only work
be mixed with the food paste by muscle action.
at their best in low pH, so the acid
made by the stomach wall is very
important.
Grade 9 75

KEY WORDS liver stomach
emulsify breaking of large

drops of fat into small
droplets
lipase enzyme that breaks gall bladder duct of pancreas
down fats
absorption the process
whereby the body absorbs
food molecules pancreas
villi finger-like projections bile duct
of the lining of the small
duodenum
intestine
Figure 3.25 The liver and pancreas are important to the successful
digestion of food in the small intestine in a number of ways.
The rest of the small intestine is a long (6–8 m) coiled tube that
produces carbohydrase, protease and lipase enzymes of its own.
The tube is coiled up to fit inside the body cavity. Your food,
which is rapidly becoming completely digested in the alkaline
environment, is moved along by peristalsis.
Throughout the small intestine enzymes speed up the breakdown of
large molecules into smaller molecules. The main types of enzymes
found in the human digestive system are summarised in the table
below:
Table 3.5 Enzymes of the human digestive system
Type of enzyme Where it is found in the What does it act What are the
gut on? breakdown products?
Carbohydrase, Salivary glands, pancreas, Starch, maltose Glucose
e.g. amylase, maltase small intestine
Protease, Stomach, pancreas and Protein Amino acids
e.g. pepsin, trypsin small intestine
Lipase Pancreas and small intestine Lipids (fats and oils) Fatty acids and glycerol
Once the food molecules have been digested, giving glucose, amino
acids, fatty acids and glycerol, they are absorbed by your body
(absorption). They leave the small intestine by diffusion and go
into the blood supply to be carried around the body to the cells that
need them. The lining of the small intestine is specially adapted to
allow as much diffusion as possible and as rapidly as possible. It has
many finger-like projections of the lining (called villi) to increase
the surface area for diffusion, and each individual villus in turn
is covered in even smaller projections called microvilli. The villi
also have a rich blood supply that carries away the digested food
molecules and maintains a steep diffusion gradient. The diffusion
distances are very small, and the whole process takes place in a
water-based solution. All of these factors make the absorption of
76 Grade 9

the digested food molecules from the small intestine into the blood
KEY WORDS
supply very efficient. The glucose molecules and amino acids go
directly into the blood. The fatty acids and glycerol move initially hepatic portal vein blood
into the lacteals, which are part of the lymph system. The lymphatic vessel that takes digested
fluid with its load of fatty acids and glycerol then eventually drains food molecules to the liver
into the blood as well. Once the digested food molecules have all assimilation taking in and
been taken into the blood they are taken in the hepatic portal vein use of digested food by the
to the liver, which processes some of the food (see section 3.5). The
body
remaining products of digestion are carried around the body to the
cells where they are needed. They are built up into the molecules egestion removal of
required by the cells. This is known as assimilation. undigested food from the
body (faeces)
surface cells
microvilli
Figure 3.26 Millions of villi make

lacteal
it possible for all the digested food
molecules to be transferred from
blood capillaries
the small intestine into the blood
highly magnified view by diffusion.
The end of the story DID YOU KNOW?

After the digested food molecules have been absorbed into the The villi are tiny – each
blood, a watery mixture of enzymes, undigested food (mainly individual villus is only 1–2
cellulose), bile pigments, dead cells and mucus is left in the small mm long. However as there
intestine and is moved along by muscle contractions into the large are millions of villi, and each
intestine. In this wide, thin-walled tube water is absorbed back into of them in turn is covered
bloodstream by diffusion. By the end of the large intestine the thick in microvilli, it has been
paste that remains is known as the faeces. The journey ends as the calculated that the surface
faeces leave the body through the rectum and the anus as a result of area of your small intestines
a final set of muscle contractions. is actually around 300 m2 –
This removal of the faeces from your body is called egestion. It is that’s about half the area of a
not excretion because excretion involves the removal of the waste tennis court.
products from the cells, and the final contents of your gut have
never been inside your cells. The number of times people pass
faeces varies from person to person and with the diet that is eaten. DID YOU KNOW?
Once a day is probably average, but some people go several times a
day, while others may go only once or twice a week. The colour of your faeces
comes from the breakdown
So at the beginning of the process of digestion you eat a meal,
products of your bile. If
taking food into your body. After several hours the digestive
you have problems with
process, including ingestion, physical and chemical digestion,
your gall bladder or bile
absorption, assimilation and egestion, will be complete. The time
duct, your faeces may turn
it takes to digest a meal completely will depend on a variety of
silvery-white as they are
things – in particular, the size of meal you eat and the type of food
missing the pigments from
it contains. If the nutritional balance of the food you eat is right, the
your bile.
chances of your body remaining fit and healthy throughout your life
are greatly increased.
Grade 9 77

Activity 3.8: Timing food Issues of digestive health

through your system
The time it takes for food Constipation
to travel through your If the faeces remain in your large intestine for too long, too much
digestive tract is known water is removed from them. They become compacted, hard and
as the throughput time. It difficult to evacuate from your body. This is constipation and the
varies from individual to most common causes are a lack of fibre in the diet and not drinking
individual and with diet. It enough water. Straining to pass faeces can cause haemorrhoids
is possible to investigate (piles) or a tear in the anus. Constipation can usually be treated
your own throughput time relatively easily. This may involve eating more fibre (which gives
using a marker food. For the muscles of the gut more material to work on), drinking
example, corn is very high in plenty (so the faeces remain soft) and sometimes taking laxatives
fibre, so some of it appears (chemicals which stimulate the gut to contract and force out the
undigested in your faeces. To faecal material). If the faeces become completely compacted (which
measure the activity of your happens very rarely) they can block the gut. This is a very serious
own gut, eat a couple of situation which may have to be relieved by surgery.
corn cobs and measure how
long it takes for them to put Diarrhoea
in a reappearance!
On the other hand, if an infection causes the gut to contract more
strongly or more rapidly than usual, the faeces that are produced
may be very loose and watery. This is known as diarrhoea. Often
KEY WORDS this condition clears up within 24 hours, but in the very young and
the very old – and anyone if it persists – diarrhoea can be fatal as
constipation faeces that it causes dehydration of the tissues. It can be treated very simply
remain too long in the large by giving the sufferer frequent drinks of water with rehydration
intestine have too much salts (mainly salt and sugar). These replace the fluids that are being
water removed and become lost and keep the body tissues hydrated until the immune system
compacted and difficult to overcomes the infection. Millions of people around the world,
evacuate from the body particularly children and old people, die from untreated diarrhoea
every year.
diarrhoea loose, watery
faeces Food hygiene
salmonella bacteria that
It is not only the balance of food in your diet that can affect your
causes food poisoning
health. There are a number of food-borne diseases. Bacteria
growing on food that you eat can make you very ill and even kill
you. For example, raw meat and raw eggs can contain bacteria such
as salmonella that cause diarrhoea and sickness (vomiting). In most
people food-borne diseases are not too serious, but young children,
the elderly and anyone who has other health problems can be very
seriously affected.
You need to maintain very strict food hygiene when you are
preparing food to avoid these diseases. Store raw meat and eggs
separately from salad vegetables and fruit. Wash the knives used
to cut meat and the work surfaces on which it is prepared before
preparing salads or cutting cheese. Disinfect work surfaces
regularly. And most important of all, anyone preparing food must
wash their hands between handling different types of food and
when they have been to the toilet. Gut bacteria from the faeces can
78 Grade 9

be transferred from the hands to the food very easily and cause
stomach upsets to spread around a family or a community.
Some of the food we eat is preserved so that it will last longer.
There are a number of ways of preserving food and they all work by
preventing bacteria from growing on the food. When food is canned
it is heated to high temperatures and sealed so that the air cannot
get in – this kills the bacteria which might cause food poisoning and
deprives them of the oxygen they need to grow. Bottling is a similar
process which uses glass bottles – people can bottle their own excess
crops as well as buying commercially produced bottled food. Often a
sugar syrup or brine is used. Again this method kills the bacteria with
heat, deprives them of oxygen and also causes osmotic damage using Figure 3.27 Canned foods are
the sugar or salt solution. When food is packed in a vacuum pack the usually very safe – the food
air is sucked out of the packaging which is then sealed. This means is heated to kill bacteria and
there is no oxygen available so bacteria cannot grow in the food. sealed in airtight tins. But very
Finally food can be dried – there is no water so bacteria cannot grow occasionally, if there is a tiny
and the food stays good. hole in the can, the bacterium
Clostridium botulinum gets in.
All of these methods of preserving food should mean that the food These bacteria produce the deadly
lasts a very long time and remains safe and good to eat. However, botulinus toxin and anyone eating
you need to be careful and employ good food hygiene even when the food can become paralysed or
using canned or packaged foods. Here are some of the precautions even die.
you should use:
• Check that the ‘best before’ date stamped on the can or package
is OK. In many cases, particularly with tinned food, the ‘best
before’ date means that the food will not taste at its best rather
than that it will be going bad and a health risk. However, it is
always best to avoid eating food that is past its ‘best before’ date
to avoid the risk of infections.
• Make sure that the can, bottle or packet has not been damaged
in any way which would allow air into the container. If air gets
into a food container it carries microbes with it which can grow
on the food using oxygen from the air to respire. Some of these
micro-organisms can cause disease if you then eat the food.
Others produce toxins (poisons) as they grow which can cause
severe illness and death if they are eaten.
• Once a food container has been opened, eat the contents
quickly. If anything is left over, store it in a refrigerator to keep
the temperature low if possible to stop bacteria growing. If not,
keep the food as cool as possible and cover it to prevent flies
from landing on it and transferring microbes from their feet and
mouthparts to the food.
• Check for any bulging in the shape of a can which might show
you that bacteria have got into the tin and grown, producing
gases which build up and make the tin bulge.
Grade 9 79

Summary
• The breakdown of large food molecules into smaller soluble
molecules through hydrolysis reactions is catalysed by
enzymes.
• Enzymes are proteins that catalyse specific reactions.
• Each enzyme has an active site that fits the reactants of the
reaction it catalyses.
• Enzymes are affected by temperature. Up to their optimum
temperature, raising the temperature increases the rate of
reaction. Once the temperature goes above the optimum,
the protein structure of the enzyme is denatured, the shape
of the active site is destroyed and the rate of the reaction
decreases rapidly.
• Enzymes work best at specific pH levels – pH affects the
structure of the active site.
• Different areas of the gut have different pHs to suit the
enzymes involved.
• The process of eating your food involves ingestion,
digestion, absorption, assimilation and egestion.
• The human digestive system is a muscular tube running
through the body with specialised areas adapted to carry out
different parts of the digestive process.
• Peristalsis is a wave of muscular contraction pushing food
along the gut.
• The liver makes bile, which emulsifies fats, increasing the
surface area for enzyme action.
• The ileum has a very large surface area due to the presence
of villi and microvilli. This enables the digested food
products to be absorbed into the blood and lymph systems.
Water is removed from the remaining undigested food in the
large intestine and the remaining material is egested from
the body as the faeces.
• Food must be handled and stored carefully to avoid the
transmission of diseases.
80 Grade 9

Review questions
1. Enzymes are made of:
A carbohydrates
B vitamins
C proteins
D fats
2. Which of the following does NOT affect the activity of an
enzyme?
A pH
B temperature
C the surface area of the reactants
D light levels
3. Extracellular enzymes work:
A outside of your cells
B inside your cells
C inside your mitochondria
D only in your mouth
4. Which part of a tooth contains the living nerves?
A enamel
B dentine
C cement
D pulp cavity
5. The finger-like projections in the small intestine are known as:
A bilirubin
B microvilli
C sphincters
D villi
Grade 9 81

3.3 The respiratory system

• Explain the importance of breathing in humans.
• Describe the structure and functions of the human respiratory system.
• Examine the structure of a lung from an animal such as a cow or sheep.
• Explain the mechanism of breathing using a lung model.
• Explain the process of gas exchange.
• Demonstrate the presence of CO2, water vapour and heat in exhaled air.
• Compare the composition of inhaled and exhaled air.
• List the factors which affect breathing and explain how they affect it.
• Explain the effects of cigarette smoking and inhaling gaya, suret and shisha on health and on
the economy of the family.
• List the methods of maintaining the hygiene of breathing.
• Describe the steps followed during artificial respiration and be able to demonstrate these steps.
The first breath a baby takes when it is born signals the start of a
new independent life. Why is breathing so important, and how
does it work? In single-celled organisms and other small living
things, oxygen diffuses into the cells from the air or water, and
carbon dioxide diffuses out. But human beings are much too large,
and have far too many cells, for simple diffusion from the air to be
enough. Breathing brings oxygen into your body and removes the
waste carbon dioxide produced by your cells as they work. In this
section you will learn how your respiratory system works.
The human respiratory system

Figure 3.28 Once a baby starts
Your respiratory system is beautifully adapted for the job it has
breathing on its own, it is well
to do. Your nose contains the nasal passages, which have a large
and truly born. We carry on
surface area, a good blood supply, lots of hairs and a lining that
breathing – on average about
secretes mucus. The hairs and mucus filter out much of the dust and
14 times a minute – until the day
small particles such as bacteria and pollen that we breathe in, whilst
we die.
moist surfaces increase the humidity of the air we breathe into our
bodies and the rich blood supply warms it. All this means that the
air we take in is already warm, clean and moist before it gets into KEY WORDS
the delicate tissue of our lungs.
carbon dioxide colourless,
As air moves down into the trachea it passes the oesophagus – the
entrance to your gut. Whereas air can – and does – make its way
odourless gas formed during
down into your gut, this doesn’t matter as you can simply bring it respiration and a widely
back up in the form of a burp. However, it is very important that produced greenhouse gas
food does not get into your lungs. It can block the airways or cause trachea major airway
a fatal infection and so the epiglottis closes off your trachea every connecting the larynx with
time you swallow in a reflex action (you will learn more about this the lungs
in Grade 10). You cannot swallow and breathe at the same time.
82 Grade 9

KEY WORDS
nasal
abdomen contains the
passages digestive system and
many body organs
diaphragm muscle
epiglottis separating the chest
larynx oesophagus (gullet) cavity from the
(voice box)
abdomen
trachea rings of larynx voice box
cartilage
cartilage smooth
left rubbery material that
bronchus
alveoli reduces friction and
bronchiole cushions joints
heart cilia tiny moving hairs
intercostal attached to cells
pleural muscles
membranes pleural cavity
containing pleural
fluid
ribs
Activity 3.9: The

muscular diaphragm breathing structures
Figure 3.29 The respiratory system supplies your body with vital
of a mammal
oxygen and removes poisonous carbon dioxide. The lungs are in The breathing structures
the upper part of the body – the thorax. The abdomen contains the of most mammals are very
digestive system and many other body organs. The diaphragm similar to human ones. If
is a sheet of muscle separating the thorax and the abdomen, keeping you look at the trachea and
the contents of each part of the body quite separate and making lungs of an animal such as
breathing movements. a cow or a sheep you will
be able to see the different
At the top of your trachea sits your larynx or voice box. By directing tissues. Your teacher will
air leaving the lungs over the vocal cords (flaps of muscle) in the show you the rings of
larynx, you produce the sounds that you use in speech. The trachea cartilage and the division
itself has a series of incomplete rings of cartilage (shaped like the of the tube into the bronchi
letter C) that support it and hold it open. They are incomplete so which feed into the lungs.
that you can swallow your food. Your oesophagus and trachea run You may see air breathed
next to each other so as a lump (bolus) of food moves down your into the lungs through
oesophagus it presses against your trachea. If the trachea had solid a tube (possibly using a
cartilage rings this would be very uncomfortable. But the open bicycle pump) and if so you
part of the ring faces the oesophagus so the food passes by with no will see how the lung tissue
problems (see figure 3.30). inflates and deflates.
The lining of your trachea secretes mucus, which like the surface Cutting small sections of
of the nose collects bacteria and dust particles. The cells that line the lungs will allow you to
the trachea are also covered in hair-like cilia that beat to move the see inside the tissue and
mucus with any trapped micro-organisms and dirt away from your so understand the spongy
lungs and towards your mouth. This mucus is then either swallowed structure that they have.
and digested or coughed up.
Grade 9 83

The trachea splits into two tubes; the left and right bronchi
DID YOU KNOW?
(singular bronchus), one leading to each lung. The bronchi
Using traditional cooking are also supported by rings of cartilage. Inside your lungs, the
fires means many people bronchi divide into smaller tubes known as the bronchioles. The
breathe in a lot of smoke bronchioles are much smaller than the bronchi, dividing into ever
particles. This means the smaller tubes until they reach the main structures of the lungs – the
mucus produced from alveoli (singular alveolus). There are millions of these tiny air sacs,
your nose will often be giving a massive surface area for the main exchange of gases in the
grey or black, as your body lungs to take place.
filters out the particles and
gets rid of them. Activity 3.10: Looking at the tissues of the
respiratory system
By looking at some prepared microscope slides you can see the
oesophagus difference in the structure of different areas of the respiratory
system.
trachea You will need:
• a microscope
bulge
where food • a lamp
is passing
down • prepared microscope slides of trachea and lung tissue to
oesophagus
show bronchioles and alveoli
C-shaped
rings of Method
cartilage
in wall of Remember, microscopes are expensive and delicate pieces of
trachea equipment so always take care of them and handle them safely.
Use the technique for using microscopes described in section 2.1.
Figure 3.30 The incomplete
1. Set up your microscope.
cartilage rings that support your
trachea are a useful adaptation 2. Clip the prepared slide into place on the stage and focus
when it comes to swallowing your carefully.
food successfully. 3. Draw some of the structures you see and label them as
well as you can. Look for the cilia on the epithelium of the
trachea and the cartilage rings. In the lungs themselves
look carefully at the structure of the alveoli and try to work
KEY WORDS out why they are so effective at gaseous exchange.
bronchus one of two main
tubes branching off the
windpipe How is air brought into your lungs?
bronchioles small air tubes For your respiratory system to work you need to move air into
in the lung your lungs and then move it out again. This is brought about by
alveoli tiny air sacs in a movements of the ribcage, which you can see and feel, and by
lung movements of the diaphragm, which you can’t.
The breathing movements are brought about by two different sets
of muscles that change the pressure in the chest cavity. When
we breathe in, our ribs move up and out, and the muscles of the
diaphragm contract so that it flattens from its normal domed shape.
The intercostal muscles between the ribs contract, pulling them
upwards and outwards at the same time as the diaphragm muscles
84 Grade 9

contract to flatten the diaphragm. These two movements increase

KEY WORDS
the volume of your chest (thorax). Because the same amount of gas
is now inside a much bigger space, the pressure inside the chest ventilation moving air into
drops. This in turn means the pressure inside the chest is lower than and out of the lungs
the pressure of the air outside. As a result air moves into the lungs. intercostal muscles
Then, when the intercostal and diaphragm muscles relax, the ribs muscles used in breathing
drop and the diaphragm domes up. The volume of the thorax is
decreased, so the pressure inside your chest increases as the air is
squeezed and forced out of your lungs. You breathe out.
This movement of air in and out of the body is known as
ventilation of the lungs.
a) inhalation b) exhalation
air enters air pushed out
lungs trachea of lungs
cavity
containing
pleural fluid
ribs
lower pressure higher pressure

than outside body lung than outside body
diaphragm internal
diaphragm external muscles relax intercostal
muscles intercostal – diaphragm muscles
contract – muscles becomes contract,
diaphragm contract, dome-shaped pulling ribs
flattens pulling ribs up down and in
and out
Figure 3.31 Breathing movements bring about changes in the air pressure in your chest that result in air
moving into and out of your lungs. The movements of your diaphragm are hidden but the movements of
the ribs can be seen and felt easily.
We have two sets of intercostal muscles. In normal, quiet

breathing we use only our external intercostal muscles, which
lift our ribs. When these muscles relax, our ribs fall back to their
original position due to gravity. However, if we need to breathe
out deliberately, forcing the air out of our lungs, or when we are
exercising really hard, we also use our internal intercostal muscles,
which pull the ribs down hard and squeeze more air out of your
lungs. You can also use the muscles of your abdomen deliberately
to increase the amount of air you move in or out of your lungs.
Professional singers often make use of this when they perform.
Grade 9 85

Activity 3.11: Investigating breathing movements glass tubing
It is impossible to see exactly what is happening inside your

chest as you breathe without using special imaging techniques.
rubber
tubing However, there are two simple investigations you can try to
build up a useful model of what is going on inside you.
‘Y’-piece
1. If you stand up and place your hands on either side of your
body, on your ribs, you can feel your breathing movements.
balloon
‘lungs’ Experiment with breathing gently and then more deeply, and
feel the changes in the size and shape of your ribcage.
bell-jar
‘thorax’ 2. You can also get an idea of the effect of your diaphragm
moving down and up again on the pressure in your thorax
and the air in your lungs using a model thorax like the one
rubber sheet
‘diaphragm’ shown in figure 3.32. Pull the rubber ‘diaphragm’ down,
ring to pull rubber sheet then force it up again and observe the effect this has on
Figure 3.32 Bell-jar model of the balloon ‘lungs’. This gives you an insight into the role of
the thorax your diaphragm in filling and emptying your lungs.
The process of gaseous exchange

Breathing in supplies us with the oxygen we need for cellular
respiration, while when we breathe out waste carbon dioxide is
removed from the body. But how is this exchange brought about?
When the air is breathed into the lungs, oxygen passes into the
blood by diffusion along a concentration gradient. At the same time
carbon dioxide passes out of the blood into the air of the lungs, also
by diffusion along a concentration gradient. This exchange of gases
takes place in the alveoli, the tiny air sacs with a large surface area
that make up much of the structure of the lungs.
air into lungs air out of lungs
blood
air in alveolus
oxygen moves
into the blood
carbon dioxide
moves out of
the blood
Figure 3.33 An exchange of gases

between the blood and the air The movement of oxygen into the blood and carbon dioxide out of
takes place in the lungs. the blood takes place at exactly the same time – there is a swap or
exchange between the two and so this process is known as gaseous
exchange.
The tiny air sacs of the alveoli provide an ideal site for the most
effective possible diffusion of gases into and out of the blood. They
have a very large surface area that is kept moist. This is important
for the most effective diffusion of the gases, as they need to be in
solution to diffuse into the blood.
86 Grade 9

The alveoli also have a rich blood supply, which is vital if substances
DID YOU KNOW?
are going to move into and out of the blood. The blood that the
heart pumps to the lungs has come from the active body tissues It has been calculated that
and is low in oxygen and relatively high in carbon dioxide. Oxygen your lungs contain about
is constantly moved into the blood, but more deoxygenated blood 500 million alveoli. If all of
immediately replaces it. Similarly, carbon dioxide is constantly these alveoli were spread
delivered to the lungs, where it is diluted in the volume of air out flat, they would have a
maintaining a concentration gradient between the blood and the surface area about the size
air in the lungs. This is made even steeper each time new air moves of a tennis court!
into the lungs. As a result gas exchange in both directions can take
place along the steepest concentration gradients possible, so that it
occurs rapidly and effectively.
Within the alveoli, the gases in the air and the gases dissolved in
the blood are only separated by two cell layers, a distance of only
about a thousandth of a millimetre, so the diffusion distances are as
short as possible. This means that diffusion takes place as quickly as
possible.
The mechanism of gas exchange in the alveoli depends on a large
surface area, moist surfaces, short diffusion distances, and a rich
blood supply maintaining steep concentration gradients.
The breathing movements tell us that air is moved into and out
of the lungs. If we analyse the gases in inhaled and exhaled air we
can compare their composition and show the levels of oxygen and
carbon dioxide change.
end of bronchiole
blood back to heart oxygenated

air in and out blood
deoxygenated
blood wall of
capillary
blood from
heart
thin layer of
fluid lining
alveolus
carbon oxygen
dioxide
one alveolus
cells of
alveolus wall
red blood
cells
Figure 3.34 The alveoli are the site of very eﬃcient gas exchange in the lungs.
Grade 9 87

Table 3.6 An analysis of the air Atmospheric gas Air breathed in Air breathed out
taken into and breathed out of
Nitrogen About 80% About 80%
the lungs shows how the chemical
make-up is changed by the Oxygen 21% 16%
diffusion that takes place in the Carbon dioxide 0.04% 4%
lungs.
Activity 3.12: Demonstrating the presence of carbon dioxide (CO2) in exhaled air
A detailed analysis of There is a slightly more complicated version of this simple

inhaled and exhaled air is experiment where you can compare the carbon dioxide
not easy in the school lab, content of the air you breathe in with the air you breathe out.
but you can do a relatively
You will need: breathe in and out
simple experiment to
demonstrate that the carbon • two boiling tubes
inhaled exhaled
dioxide content of the air • bungs and delivery air A B air
you breathe out is different tubes linked as shown
from the air breathed in. in figure 3.35
This experiment uses lime
water (Ca(OH)2) as an • lime water
indicator of the presence
of carbon dioxide. The clear
liquid turns cloudy when
carbon dioxide is bubbled lime water or
through it, and the faster Figure 3.35 Using relatively hydrogen-
it turns cloudy, the greater simple apparatus it is possible carbonate
indicator
the concentration of carbon to see differences between the solution
dioxide present. air we breathe in and the air
we breathe out.
In the simplest form of this
experiment you simply need
a tube containing some lime
Method
water and a straw. Breathe
in normally and gently but 1. Set up the apparatus as shown in figure 3.35.
breathe out gently through 2. Observe the appearance of the lime water in both tubes
the straw. Repeat this until before beginning your practical investigation.
the lime water turns cloudy,
counting how many breaths 3. Breathe in gently through the central glass tube.
it takes. This shows that 4. Breathe out gently through the central glass tube.
there is carbon dioxide in
5. Repeat this sequence for several minutes. You will draw air
the air you have breathed
in so that it bubbles through one tube of limewater. The
out.
air you breathe out will bubble gently through the other
If you run on the spot for tube of lime water. DO NOT blow too hard. DO NOT SUCK
three minutes and then hard on the tube.
repeat this experiment,
6. Observe any changes in the lime water in both tubes.
would you expect the lime
water to turn cloudy more 7. Write up your investigation and record your results.
slowly or more quickly? Try Explain your observations as fully as you can in terms of
this out and then explain the air that is inhaled and exhaled from your lungs.
your results.
88 Grade 9

Activity 3.13: Demonstrating the presence of heat in Activity 3.14:

the air you breathe out Demonstrating the
presence of water vapour
It isn’t easy to demonstrate that the temperature of the air
in exhaled air
you breathe out is higher than the temperature of the air you
breathe in, but there are ways of doing it. Can you think of The air you breathe in is the
investigations using ice cubes or thermometers that would let air in the classroom around
you do this? you. If you have a piece of
cold glass, the air in your
classroom will not make any
changes appear.
What affects your breathing rate?
However, if you breathe out
The average resting breathing rate for an adult human being is several times on a piece
around 12–14 breaths per minute. This supplies the oxygen needed of cold glass, tiny drops
for all of the normal activities of your cells, but it does not use up of a colourless liquid will
all of the capacity of your lungs. When you are breathing normally appear. Test this liquid
at rest, you take about 500 cm3 of air in and out each time you with blue cobalt chloride
breathe – this is only about 15% of your possible maximum. This is paper or white anhydrous
known as your tidal volume of air. The vital capacity of your lungs copper(II) sulphate to show
is the absolute maximum amount of air you can take into or breathe that the air you breathed
out of your lungs. If you need more oxygen for any reason, you out contains water vapour –
have two ways of getting more air into your body. You may breathe and a lot more water vapour
faster and you may breathe more deeply, taking more air into your than the classroom air you
body with each breath. Usually you do a combination of the two. breathed in.
So what factors affect your breathing rate? Anything that increases
the oxygen requirements of your body will tend to increase your (Blue cobalt chloride paper
breathing rate. The main factors known to have an effect are: turns pink in the presence
of water, whereas white
• Exercise anhydrous copper(II)
• Anxiety sulphate turns blue.)
• Drugs
• Environmental factors
KEY WORDS
• Altitude
tidal volume the amount
• Weight
of air breathed in
• Smoking vital capacity the
maximum amount of air
Exercise that can be taken into the
Even when you are resting, your muscles use up a certain amount lungs
of oxygen and glucose. This is because some of your muscle fibres
are constantly contracting to keep you in position against the pull
of gravity. Muscles are also involved in your life processes such
as breathing and circulation of the blood. But when you begin to
exercise, your muscles start contracting harder and faster. As a
result they need more glucose and oxygen to supply their energy
needs. During exercise the muscles also produce increased amounts
of carbon dioxide, which needs to be removed for them to keep
working effectively.
So during exercise, when muscular activity increases, your
breathing rate increases and you breathe more deeply. These
Grade 9 89

changes mean that not only do you breathe more often, but you
Did you know?
also bring more air into your lungs each time you breathe. This
In a 100 m sprint race increases the amount of oxygen brought into your body and carried
some athletes do not to the exercising muscles. It also means more carbon dioxide can be
breathe at all. This means removed from the blood in the lungs and breathed out.
that the muscles use the
oxygen taken in at the start heart rate
of the race and then don’t 165
breathing rate
get any more oxygen until
Breathing rate (breaths per minute)

145
the race is over. Although
Heart rate (beats per minute)

60
the race only takes a few 125
seconds, a tremendous 45
amount of energy is used 105

30
up so a big oxygen debt
can develop. 85
15
rest/anticipation exercise recovery
65
Figure 3.36 During exercise the
breathing rate increases to supply
the muscles with the oxygen
needed and remove the extra –6 –5 –4 –3 –2 –1 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 +1+2+3+4+5+6+7+8
carbon dioxide produced. Time (min)
Exercising and getting fitter means your lungs get bigger. They can
supply more oxygen to your muscles so you build up much less
oxygen debt. As a result fit people often have a slower breathing rate
than unfit people, because they take more air in and out with each
resting breath.
Regular exercise has been shown to have a number of benefits for
health and fitness. It keeps your muscles toned, so that the fibres
are constantly slightly tensed and ready to contract. This speeds up
your reaction time and uses up energy, helping you to maintain a
healthy body weight. When you use your muscles regularly they get
stronger as more muscle fibres develop. Another benefit is that your
muscles are much less likely to feel stiff and sore after exercise when
exercise starts exercise stops

75
Breathing rate (breaths per minute)
unfit
60
45 fit
30
Figure 3.37 Hard exercise means 15

everyone has to pay off their
oxygen debt – but if you are fit
0 10
you can pay it off faster. Time (minutes)
90 Grade 9

Activity 3.15: Investigating the effect of exercise on breathing rate

A good way of telling how You will need:
fit you are is to measure • stopwatch or clock with clear second hand
your resting breathing
rate. The fitter you are, the Method
fewer breaths you will take.
Then see what happens 1. Find out your resting breathing rate. Sit quietly without
when you exercise – the speaking for two minutes at least. Then start the stopwatch
increase in your breathing and record how many times you breathe in and out a minute
rate and how fast it returns (breathing in and out again counts as one breath). Repeat
to normal is another way this three times to get an average resting breathing rate.
of finding out how fit you 2. Now exercise gently for two minutes by walking on the spot.
are – or aren’t! Anyone who As soon as you stop exercising start to record your breathing
is affected by asthma or rate. Record it every minute until it returns to your resting
has any other illness should rate.
take care before taking 3. Now change the way you exercise. Exercise harder for two
part in this practical and minutes by gentle jogging on the spot. As soon as you stop
take any medication they exercising start to record your breathing rate. Record it every
would normally use before minute until it returns to your resting rate.
a PE session. Anyone who
does not normally take part 4. Finally exercise hard for two minutes – run on the spot as
in PE should act as time- hard as you can. As soon as you stop exercising start to
keeper and recorder in this record your breathing rate. Record it every minute until it
investigation and not take returns to your resting rate. If you prefer, you can simply
part in the physical exercise. extend your period of more gentle exercise, by walking or
jogging gently for four minutes instead of two.
5. Write up your investigation, including your results. Make a
graph of your own personal data and explain what you have
observed. In some cases your breathing rate may drop below
your normal resting rate as you recover. Can you explain
what is happening?
6. Collect data from other members of the class and compare
the breathing rates and recovery times of the group. Can you
find any patterns in the data? Are there differences between
boys and girls? Do the members of sports teams show
different patterns to the rest of the class?
you use them regularly. The blood supply to your muscles increases,
bringing glucose and oxygen to the tissues more efficiently,
removing carbon dioxide and avoiding oxygen debt. Your joints
also tend to work more smoothly if you take regular exercise. This
is because the blood flow to your joints is increased so your body
maintains and repairs them more effectively.
The benefits of regular exercise are not confined to your muscles
and skeleton. Your heart and lungs benefit too. Both the heart and
the lungs become larger, and they both develop a bigger and very
efficient blood supply. This means they function as effectively as
possible at all times, whether you are exercising or not.
Grade 9 91

Anxiety
Anxiety affects your breathing rate because when you are anxious
your body reacts as if you are in danger and need extra oxygen.
As a result, your breathing rate will increase, ready to supply extra
oxygen and get rid of carbon dioxide if you have to run away or
fight (you will learn more about this response in Grade 10).
Drugs
Drugs can affect your breathing rate in a number of ways. Some
of the drugs we take into our bodies are medicines designed to
make us better. Others are drugs that we take for pleasure, some
of which are legal and some of which are not. But drugs, whether
they are medicines, legal or illegal, may affect your breathing rate –
sometimes fatally. Khat, amphetamines and cocaine, for example,
can cause your breathing rate to increase dramatically, whereas
depressants can cause the breathing rate to drop alarmingly and
even stop. Any drug that lowers the rate at which you get air into
your lungs risks depriving your body and brain tissues of oxygen,
which can have devastating results.
Environmental factors
Certain environmental factors can either change your oxygen needs
or change the concentrations of the gases that control breathing. If
conditions are particularly hot, your body has to work very hard
to keep cool and you may find your breathing rate increases. If the
levels of carbon dioxide in the air increase, so will your breathing
rate – because a build-up of carbon dioxide in the body triggers the
breathing response.
Altitude
Height above sea level (altitude) can also affect your breathing rate.
The higher you go above sea level, the lower both the atmospheric
pressure and the oxygen levels in the air. Once you go above
3650 m above sea level, there is a noticeable lack of oxygen and
your breathing rate will increase to try and keep your oxygen levels
up. Many people feel ill at altitude although you may begin to
acclimatise, getting more air into your lungs with every breath as
well as producing more red blood cells to carry oxygen. People who
are born and live at high altitudes – for example, in the Himalayas
and the Andes – don’t suffer in this way. They have an increased
lung volume with many more alveoli, as well as more blood
capillaries and red blood cells to pick up the oxygen from the air.
Weight
KEY WORD Excess weight can also affect your breathing rate. It can be difficult
to breathe deeply because of the fat around the abdominal organs,
weight measure of the
which makes it difficult for the diaphragm to lower properly. Yet
heaviness of a person/ your muscles have to work to move the excess weight around. So
object people who are very overweight or obese (see page 66) are often
92 Grade 9

breathless as they cannot get the oxygen they need very easily; they
may do little exercise and as a result they are very unfit. However,
if overweight people begin to take more exercise, they will lose
weight, their breathing rate will fall and become more efficient and
they will quite rapidly see the benefits of improving fitness.
Smoking
Finally, one major factor that affects breathing rates is smoking.
Smoking is a habit that directly affects your respiratory system
as well as other areas of your body, so we will look at it in rather
more detail.
The effect of smoking on the lungs and the

rest of the body
People in Ethiopia tend to smoke cigarettes less than those in many
other countries. However, we do also smoke shisha, and also people
use native tobaccos such as gaya, which may be smoked in a pipe,
inhaled like snuff or chewed. In spite of this, scientific evidence
suggests that many deaths in Ethiopia are smoking-related. In the
year 2000, statistics showed that nine people in every 100 000 of the
population died of smoking-related cancers such as lung cancer, and
18.9 in every 100 000 died of cancers linked not just to smoking and
inhaling cigarettes but also to pipe smoking and chewing tobacco,
such as cancers of the mouth and throat. Every cigarette smoked
produces around 4000 chemicals that are inhaled into the lungs.
Every time you inhale shisha, pipe smoke or cigarette smoke these
chemicals are taken into your mouth, throat and lungs and some go
into your blood.
Nicotine is the addictive drug found in tobacco smoke. KEY WORDS
Carbon monoxide is a very poisonous gas found in cigarette
nicotine addictive drug
smoke.
found in tobacco smoke
It takes up some of the oxygen carrying capacity of the blood – after carbon monoxide
smoking a cigarette up to 10% of a smoker’s blood will be carrying
poisonous gas found in
carbon monoxide rather than oxygen.
smoke
This can lead to a shortage of oxygen for the smoker, and the effect
is most marked in pregnant women. If the mother’s blood does not
contain enough oxygen as a result of smoking, the foetus is deprived
of oxygen and does not grow as well as it should. This can lead to
premature births, low birthweight babies and stillbirths where the
baby is born dead.
Smoking-related diseases
Tar is a sticky black chemical in tobacco smoke that is not absorbed
into the bloodstream. It simply accumulates in the lungs, turning
them from pink to grey. In a smoker, the cilia which move things
away from the lungs are anaesthetised by each cigarette and stop
working for a time, allowing dirt and bacteria down into the lungs.
Grade 9 93

Tar makes smokers more likely to develop bronchitis –

KEY WORDS
inflammation and infection of the bronchi. The build-up of tar in
bronchitis inflammation the delicate lung tissue can also lead to a breakdown in the alveolar
and infection of the bronchi structure. In these chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases
chronic obstructive (COPD) the structure of the alveoli break down and much larger air
pulmonary diseases spaces develop. This means the surface area of the lungs is reduced.
(COPD) reduction of surface As a result the person affected is always short of oxygen and feels
breathless. COPD kills and disables millions of people around the
area of the lungs due to
world.
breakdown of the alveoli
Tar is also a major carcinogen (a cancer causing substance). Lung
lung cancer disease linked
cancer – the most well-known disease linked to smoking – is the
to smoking
result of this accumulation of tar. Up to 90% of lung cancers are
directly the result of smoking. Tobacco smoking is also linked to
cancers of the throat, mouth and larynx – the whole respiratory
tract is affected.
The chemicals in tobacco smoke also affect the heart and blood
vessels, making it more likely that blood vessels will become
blocked, causing heart attacks, strokes and thrombosis. This link
between heart disease and smoking will be considered in more
detail in the next section.
Activity 3.16: Demonstration of the tar in

cigarette smoke
a) You can investigate the levels of tar in different types of
tobacco products using the internet or some textbooks.
However, you can set up a simple smoking machine to
demonstrate the tar that is produced from a single cigarette
– which would go down into your lungs if you inhaled the
cigarette smoke.
You will need:
• a plastic bottle
b) • some cotton wool
• a length of tubing or even a straw
• sticky tape, blue tack, modelling clay or any material that
will act as a seal
• a cigarette and matches
Method
Figure 3.38 The difference in 1. Make a small hole in the bottom of the plastic bottle.
the appearance of the lungs of a 2. Put the cigarette into one end of the tube and seal the join
smoker (a) compared to a non- with tape or other material – it must be airtight.
smoker (b) is obvious even to the
untrained eye. 3. Push some clean cotton wool into the other end of the tube.
4. Place the cotton wool filled end of the tube into the top of
the bottle and seal it with tape, modelling clay, etc. Make
sure this seal is airtight.
94 Grade 9

5. Light the cigarette and gently squeeze the bottle and

release, so that the smoke is sucked back through the
cotton wool into the bottle.
6. Repeat until the cigarette has completely burned away.
7. Remove the cotton wool plug and compare it to the original
clean cotton wool.
8. To see the effect even more clearly, burn more than one
cigarette before looking at the cotton wool.
Figure 3.39 Equipment needed to set up a plastic bottle smoking

machine
Smoking and the family

Smoking tobacco – or chewing or inhaling it – is not just a matter
for each individual. Smoking has a big effect on the whole family.
Smoking costs money – and if part of the family income is spent
on smoking, that money cannot be used to buy food and clothes,
or help with education or health care. What is more, if a father
smokes and becomes ill with one of the diseases linked to smoking,
the whole family will suffer from lack of income. They will also
have the sadness of seeing a member of the family ill. The same
is true if it is the mother who smokes or chews – the loss of a
mother to the family is a very great blow. The illnesses of smokers
affect the economy of the whole country as well as the family –
smoking-related diseases mean people cannot work and they need
health care. In Ethiopia at the moment we are very fortunate – our
young people are very sensible and levels of smoking are very low
compared to many other countries in Africa and around the world.
A study published in 2007 by Emmanuel Rudatsikira, Abdurahman
Abdo and Adamson S Muula showed that in Addis Ababa only 4.5%
of teenage boys and 1% of teenage girls are smokers, and that the
great majority of young people thought that smoking was harmful.
We are doing well but we must work hard to make sure that young
and old alike continue to understand the dangers of inhaling
tobacco smoke and avoid it as much as possible.
Figure 3.40 The evidence for the link between smoking and cancer
is so strong now that it is universally accepted. Many governments
will not ban smoking but anti-smoking messages are given out.
Unfortunately many people still ignore the warnings and put their
health at risk.
Grade 9 95

Breathing hygiene
When you breathe you take air in and out of your body. This makes
the respiratory system a very easy way for microbes that cause
disease to get into your body. There are certain basic principles of
breathing hygiene which will make you less likely to catch diseases
or pass them on to others.
Firstly, sometimes people’s breath smells bad. This is usually due
to poor oral hygiene – often food trapped on the teeth or the
tongue causes bad breath. You must clean your teeth and tongue –
particularly the back of the tongue – regularly to avoid bad breath.
Call for help
However, sometimes bad breath is due to problems with the gut or
the kidneys. So if bad breath does not clear up, visit the doctor.
If you have an infection such as a cold or tuberculosis, you will
spray out the microbes that cause disease every time you speak
or laugh, but most of all when you cough or sneeze. It is very
important to cough or sneeze into your hand or the crook of your
elbow and then wash it immediately. This avoids passing germs into
the air for other people to breathe in.
If a dentist or doctor is going to examine a patient, they may wear
a mask over their mouth and nose. This prevents them passing on
infections to you, and also helps prevent them getting an infection
Raise the casualty’s chin and press from you – this is good breathing hygiene.
the forehead backwards to open the
airway.
When breathing fails
Sometimes breathing fails. This can be the result of a number of
different things, including an accident, drowning or a heart attack.
Once breathing stops, death will result in a matter of minutes as
the brain in particular is starved of oxygen. However, it is possible
to take over breathing for a casualty in this situation, and this may
be enough to keep them alive until medical support arrives. The
way this is done is by expired air resuscitation, which is also more
commonly known as mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. The idea of
this technique is that you keep forcing air into the lungs of the
person who has stopped breathing, so that gaseous exchange can
Pinch the casualty’s nostrils firmly. continue and their tissues continue to receive oxygen. It is very
Take a deep breath and put your important that mouth-to-mouth resuscitation should ONLY be
mouth over the casualty’s mouth. given when the casualty has stopped breathing, not just when they
Breath four quick, deep breaths into
the casualty’s mouth and repeat this are unconscious. The procedure for this is as follows:
every 5 seconds until the casualty
starts to breathe independently. 1. Call for help loudly. Use a phone to get help if you can.
Figure 3.41 Following these 2. Check to see if the casualty is conscious – use their name if you
instructions can – literally – help know it, ask their name and ask if they can hear you. NEVER use
you to save someone’s life. artificial respiration on a conscious patient. Call for help. If you
are sure the patient is unconscious…
3. Open the airway. Remove any obstacles from the mouth which
might block the airway, e.g. water weed, vomit. Tilt the head
back and lift the chin. This opens the airways and may be enough
to start breathing again. Call for help again.
96 Grade 9

4. Check for breathing. Put your head near the casualty’s nose and
mouth.
Look along the chest to check for breathing movement.
Listen for the sounds of breathing.
Feel for breath on your cheek.
Observe for at least 5 seconds before you decide the person is not
breathing. Call for help. NEVER use artificial respiration on a
casualty who is breathing.
5. Make sure the airway is open and the head is tilted back. Pinch
the casualty’s nostrils closed with one hand. Keep the chin
lifted with the other hand.
6. Use a clean piece of cloth over the mouth to avoid the transfer
of HIV through contact and other infections. Take a deep
breath and then seal your mouth around the person’s mouth.
Breathe out firmly into the person’s mouth until you see the
chest rise. This will show you that you are getting air into their
lungs.
7. Remove your lips and let the chest fall naturally.
8. Repeat these steps at about 12 breaths per minute – a steady
rate. The colour should return and the person may begin
breathing for themselves. If not, continue until medical help
arrives.
Summary
In this section you have learnt that: • The alveoli provide a very large, moist
• The breathing system takes air into and out surface area, richly supplied with blood
of the body to supply oxygen and remove capillaries to allow the most efficient
carbon dioxide. possible gas exchange.
• The respiratory system is made up of the • The rate of breathing is affected by a

mouth and nose, larynx, trachea, bronchi, number of factors including exercise,
bronchioles and alveoli. The lungs are anxiety, drugs, environmental factors,
surrounded by the pleural membranes and altitude, body weight and smoking.
enclosed in the thorax. • Nicotine is the addictive drug found in
• The movement of air is brought about by tobacco.
the intercostal muscles moving the ribs and • Tobacco smoke also contains carbon
the diaphragm. monoxide, which reduces the oxygen
• Breathing movements cause changes in the carrying capacity of the blood.
volume and pressure of the chest that bring • In pregnant women carbon monoxide
about ventilation of the lungs. deprives the foetus of oxygen and can lead
• In the lungs oxygen from the air diffuses to low birthweight babies and stillbirths.
into the bloodstream at the same time as • Tobacco smoke contains tar and other
carbon dioxide from the blood diffuses out chemicals, which contribute to lung cancer,
of the bloodstream into the air. This is bronchitis, emphysema and disease of the
known as gas exchange. heart and blood vessels.
Grade 9 97

Review questions
1. The organ of your body where gas exchange takes place is the:
A liver
B lungs
C trachea
D heart
2. The role of the cilia on the epithelium of the trachea is to:
A move dirt and mucus away from the lungs
B move dirt and mucus down the trachea into the lungs
C to produce mucus
D to prevent food getting into the lungs
3. Which of the following is not part of the respiratory response to
exercise?
A breathing faster
B producing more oxygen
C breathing deeper
D producing more carbon dioxide
4. Which of the following is NOT a constituent of cigarette
smoke?
A oxygen
B nicotine
C carbon monoxide
D tar
98 Grade 9

3.4 Cellular respiration

• Explain cellular respiration and describe the formation of
ATP and its importance to the body.
• Define and compare aerobic and anaerobic respiration, and
explain their importance in cells.
Aerobic respiration
The digestive system, breathing and circulation systems all exist
to provide the cells of the human body with what they need for
respiration. (You will learn more about the circulatory system in
the next section.) During the process of cellular respiration, glucose
(a sugar produced as a result of digestion) reacts with oxygen to
release energy that can be used by the cell. Carbon dioxide and
KEY WORDS
water are produced as waste products.
The reaction can be summed up as follows:
aerobic respiration using
oxygen
glucose + oxygen → carbon dioxide + water + energy (ATP)
adenosine triphosphate
This is called aerobic respiration because it uses oxygen from the (ATP) main energy storing
air. Aerobic respiration takes place in the mitochondria in cells. molecule in a cell
These are tiny rod-shaped bodies (organelles) that are found in
adenosine diphosphate
almost all cells. They have a folded inner membrane that provides a
large surface area for the enzymes involved in aerobic respiration. (ADP) an inorganic
Cells that use a lot of energy, such as muscle cells, liver cells and the phosphate compound
rods and cones of your eye contain lots of mitochondria because
they use a lot of energy.
inner membrane
– this is where the
reactions of aerobic
respiration take place
outer membrane
Figure 3.42 Mitochondria are the

All of your cells need energy to carry out the reactions of life, and powerhouses that provide energy
respiration provides this energy. for all the functions of a cell.
Respiration releases energy from the food we eat so that the
cells of the body can use it. The energy that is used by the cells is
stored in the form of a molecule known as ATP, which stands for
adenosine triphosphate. This is an adenosine molecule with three
phosphate groups attached to it. When energy is needed for any
chemical reaction in the cell, the third phosphate bond is broken
in a hydrolysis reaction. This results in a new compound, ADP or
adenosine diphosphate, a free inorganic phosphate group – and the
all-important energy needed in the cell. This is a reversible reaction,
and so during cellular respiration the energy from the reactions
Grade 9 99

of glucose with oxygen is used to produce large quantities of ATP

KEY WORDS
ready for use in the cells. This is why cellular respiration is so very
anabolism reactions in the important – ATP is the single energy providing and energy storing
body which build up small molecule for all the processes in living cells.
chemicals into larger ones energy produced
catabolism reactions in the ADP + Pi ATP
body that break down large energy required
chemicals into smaller ones
metabolism the sum of
anabolism and catabolism
in the body ATP ADP + P + Energy
Did you know?

Cyanide is a deadly poison ADP + P + Energy ATP + H2O
beloved of crime writers. It Figure 3.43 ATP is the energy currency of the cell.
smells faintly of almonds
and once you have taken it,
you quickly die. Cyanide The importance of ATP to the body
kills because it stops the • Your cells need energy from ATP to carry out the basic functions
reactions of respiration of life, known as metabolism. One of their main functions is
in your mitochondria. to build up large molecules from smaller ones to make new
If you give individual cell material (anabolism). Much of the energy released in
cells cyanide, all active respiration is used for these ‘building’ activities. Cells also break
transport stops as their large molecules down into smaller molecules. This is known as
energy supply dries up. catabolism and it also requires energy.
But if you supply the cells
anabolism + catabolism = metabolism
with energy in the form
of ATP, even though the • Another important use of the ATP energy from respiration is in
mitochondria are still making muscles contract. Muscles are working all the time in our
poisoned, active transport body, even when we are not aware of using them. Even when we
starts again. are asleep our heart is beating, our rib muscles and diaphragm
contract as we breathe, our gut is churning – and all of these
muscular activities use energy.
• We are ‘warm-blooded’. This means that our bodies are the same
temperature inside almost regardless of the temperature around
us. On cold days we use energy to keep our body warm, whilst
on hot days we use energy to sweat and keep our body cool.
• The ATP produced by aerobic respiration in cells also provides
energy for the active transport of some materials across cell
boundaries.
Anaerobic respiration
Figure 3.44 Warm-blooded The energy released by aerobic respiration in muscle cells allows
animals like us use up some of them to move. However, during vigorous exercise the muscle
the energy produced by aerobic cells may become short of oxygen – the blood simply cannot
respiration just keeping a steady supply it fast enough. When this happens the muscle cells can still
body temperature regardless of obtain energy from the glucose but they have to do it by a type of
the weather. respiration that does not use oxygen (anaerobic respiration).
100 Grade 9

Anaerobic respiration produces far less ATP than aerobic

KEY WORDS
respiration. It also produces a different waste product called lactic
acid. The body cannot get rid of lactic acid by breathing it out as anaerobic respiration
it does carbon dioxide, so when the exercise is over, lactic acid has breaking down food to
to be broken down. This needs oxygen, and the amount of oxygen release energy without
needed to break down the lactic acid is known as the oxygen debt. oxygen
Even though our leg muscles have stopped, our heart rate and lactic acid product of
breathing rate stay high to supply extra oxygen until we have paid
anaerobic respiration in
off the oxygen debt. After exercise, the lactic acid is oxidised by
oxygen to produce carbon dioxide and water.
animal cells
oxygen debt amount of
Anaerobic respiration:
oxygen needed to break
glucose → lactic acid + energy (ATP) down lactic acid
Oxygen debt repayment:
lactic acid + oxygen → carbon dioxide and water
When muscle cells have been used for vigorous exercise for a very
long time they become fatigued, which means they stop contracting
efficiently. They switch to anaerobic respiration, and as the levels of
lactic acid build up, your muscles really start to ache. This is known
as muscle cramp. Also, anaerobic respiration is not as efficient as
aerobic respiration. It does not break down the glucose molecules
completely so far less ATP energy is released than during aerobic
respiration. So your muscles tire more rapidly and cannot work as
well when they are respiring anaerobically, as there is not enough
energy for them.
Activity 3.17: Investigating anaerobic respiration in muscles (muscle fatigue)
If you carry out a single Method

repetitive action such as
1. Work in pairs.
stepping up and down or
lifting a weight or a book 2. One member of the pair takes the weight in one hand, with
from the bench to your their lower arm flat on the surface of the bench or desk.
shoulder time after time, you During the investigation lift the weight regularly from the
will soon feel the effect of desk to your shoulder and back down again, taking about
a build-up of lactic acid in one second for each movement. Wait to be told when to start.
your muscles. 3. The other member of the pair starts the stopwatch and gives
You will need: the instruction to start lifting at the same time.
• book, or other weight 4. Record how long it takes before the first aching in the
that can be held easily in muscles start – indicating the beginning of fatigue and the
one hand production of lactic acid in the muscles – and how long it
takes before you can no longer continue lifting.
• stopwatch or clock with
clear second hand 5. Swap roles and then repeat the investigation.
6. Collect data from the whole class on the time taken for
the first awareness of fatigue to develop and the total time
before lifting stops and produce graphs or bar charts to help
you analyse the information. What is the range of times for
the class? What are the average and the mean times before
fatigue develops and before exercise stops? What factors
might be affecting the time exercise continues?
Grade 9 101

Yeast cells
reproduce
asexually by
budding. The
new yeast
cells break
off to grow
and bud.
cell wall
nucleus
cytoplasm
Figure 3.45 Yeast cells – these microscopic organisms have

been useful to us for centuries.
Anaerobic respiration isn’t simply something that affects people. It

takes place in all living organisms, and in a number of cases we have
put anaerobic respiration to very good use, both in our industries
and in our homes. For example, one of the micro-organisms that is
most useful to people is yeast, a single-celled fungus.
When yeasts have plenty of oxygen they respire aerobically,
breaking down sugar to provide energy for the cells and producing
water and carbon dioxide as waste products. However, yeast can
also respire anaerobically. When yeast cells break down sugar in the
absence of oxygen they produce ethanol (commonly referred to as
alcohol) and carbon dioxide. The anaerobic respiration of yeast is
sometimes referred to as fermentation.
The yeast cells need aerobic respiration because it provides more
energy than anaerobic, so it allows them to grow and reproduce.
However, once there are large numbers of yeast cells, they can
survive for a long time in low oxygen conditions and will break
down all the available sugar to produce ethanol.
glucose → ethanol + CO2 + energy (ATP)
We have used yeast for making bread and alcoholic drinks almost
as far back as human records go. We know yeast was used to make
bread in Egypt in 4000 BC, and some ancient wine found in Iran
dates back to 5400–5000 BC. You will be learning more about using
yeast in your studies in Grade 10.
102 Grade 9

Summary
• Aerobic respiration is the breakdown of glucose with oxygen
to provide energy for the cells. Carbon dioxide and water are
the waste products.
• ATP is the molecule that supplies energy to all of the
reactions in the cell.
• Anaerobic respiration is respiration without oxygen. In
humans, glucose is broken down to form lactic acid and a
small amount of energy.
• If muscles work hard for a long time they become fatigued
and don’t contract properly. If they don’t get enough oxygen
they will respire anaerobically.
• After exercise, oxygen is still needed to break down the
lactic acid that has built up. This oxygen is known as an
oxygen debt.
Review questions
1. glucose + oxygen → carbon dioxide + water + ………?
Which term is needed to complete the word equation for
aerobic respiration?
A ADP
B carbon monoxide
C ATP
D gas
2. Which of the following is not a commercial use for anaerobic
respiration?
A production of biogas from human waste
B beer making
C yoghurt production
D bread making
Grade 9 103

KEY WORDS 3.5 The circulatory system

surface area to volume
ratio amount of surface By the end of this section you should be able to:
area per unit of volume • Explain how oxygen and nutrients are transported in the
blood circulation system blood.
system of blood vessels • Indicate the structures of the heart on a diagram/model.
transporting blood around
• Explain the functions of the structures of the heart.
the body via the heart
blood vessels pipes • Examine a mammalian heart using fresh or preserved
specimens.
throughout the body
carrying blood • Take your own pulse, counting the heartbeats using your
heart the pump inside the fingers.
body that moves blood • List the three types of blood vessels.
through the vessels • Explain the functions of the blood vessels.
blood the medium which • Name the components of the blood.
transports nutrients around
the body • Tell the functions of the components of the blood.
• List the four blood groups.
• Indicate the compatibility of the four blood groups.
• Explain the causes and prevention of anaemia and
hypertension.
DID YOU KNOW?
William Harvey, a 38-year-
old doctor, gave lectures All organisms need their cells to be supplied with oxygen and food
correctly explaining the in order to function. Small, single-celled organisms rely on simple
circulation of the blood for diffusion to exchange materials between the outside world and the
the first time in Europe. In inside of their cells. The diffusion distances are short, so diffusion
fact he is usually given the works really well. However, as animals get larger and are made up of
credit for having worked more and more cells, simple diffusion alone is not enough to supply
out the way the blood the body needs; there is simply not enough surface area available
circulates in the human for the exchanges to take place. This is partly because as animals
body, but in fact the get bigger, the ratio between the surface area and the volume gets
Chinese had understood smaller. As diffusion takes place through the surface area but has
the process well before the to reach the innermost volume, the bigger the organism, the less
birth of Christ. The Arab effective simple diffusion becomes as a means of transport.
doctor Ibn al-Nafiis also Human beings are made up of billions of cells, most of them a very
described the circulation long way from a direct source of food or oxygen, so a more complex
through the lungs in the transport system is required to supply the needs of the body cells
13th century AD. and remove the waste material they produce.
Figure 3.46 The surface area to

volume ratio of the small cube
is three times bigger than that
of the large cube – imagine the 1 cm 3 cm amoeba
difference between an amoeba
and you. human
104 Grade 9

This is why large animals like humans need very complicated

KEY WORDS
transport systems – our surface area to volume ratio is such that
diffusion simply cannot cope. All of the cells need oxygen and double circulation two
glucose for cellular respiration, the waste products of metabolism transport systems within the
must be removed and the many chemicals needed everywhere body carrying blood from the
in the body must be transported to and from the different organ heart to the lungs and back
systems. again; and all around the
The human transport system is the blood circulation system. It has body and back again
three elements – the pipes (blood vessels), the pump (the heart) pulmonary circulation
and the medium (the blood). All mammals have a similar system. blood flows from the heart
to the lungs and back again
A double circulation systemic circulation blood
We have a double circulation, one carrying blood from the heart is pumped from the heart,
to the lungs and back again to exchange oxygen and carbon dioxide all around the body and
with the air, the other carrying blood all around the rest of the body back again
and back again. This gives us a very effective way of getting oxygen arteries carry blood away
into the blood and then supplying it to all the body cells.
from the heart
In the pulmonary circulation, blood flows from the heart to the
lungs and back again. In the systemic circulation blood is pumped
from the heart all around the body and back again. body
A double circulation like this is very important in warm-blooded,
active animals like ourselves because it is very efficient. It lets our
blood get fully oxygenated in the lungs before it is sent off to the
different parts of the body. In animals like fish that have a single
circulation, as soon as the blood has picked up oxygen it starts to heart
lose it again to the tissues, so very few parts of the body receive fully
oxygenated blood.
The blood vessels lungs

A very important element of any transport system is the pathways
along which the transport takes place. In the human body we have Figure 3.47 The two separate
three main types of blood vessels, arteries, veins and capillaries, circulation systems supply the
which are adapted to carry out particular functions within the body, lungs and the rest of the body.
although they are all carrying the same blood.
Artery thick wall Vein Capillary
with muscle thin wall with
fibres and little muscle
elastic and elastic
tissue tissue
lining lining walls a single tiny vessel

narrower lumen (endothelium) (endothelium) cell thick with narrow
wider lumen
(central cavity) lumen
(central cavity)
Figure 3.48 Arteries, veins and

capillaries – different blood vessels
The arteries carry blood away from the heart so they have to be
for different functions in the body.
able to withstand the pumping of the heart forcing the blood out
into the circulation. This is usually oxygenated blood so it is bright
red. Arteries have thick walls that contain muscle and elastic fibres,
so that they can stretch as the blood is forced through them and go
Grade 9 105

back into shape afterwards. Arteries have a pulse in them that you
Did you know?
can feel at certain places in the body (like the wrist) where they run
The blood from a severed close to the surface – the pulse is the surge of blood from the heart
artery can spurt about when it beats. Because the blood in the arteries is under pressure,
2 metres away from it is very dangerous if an artery is cut because the blood spurts out
your body! rapidly every time the heart beats. This means blood is lost very
rapidly and the bleeding is difficult to stop. The only arteries that
carry deoxygenated blood are the pulmonary arteries, which carry
KEY WORDS the blood away from your heart to your lungs, and the umbilical
veins carry blood towards artery, which carries blood away from a foetus into the placenta
(you will learn more about this in Grade 10).
the heart
capillaries link veins and The veins carry blood towards your heart – it is usually low in
arteries and take blood to oxygen and so is a deep purple-red colour. They have much thinner
walls than arteries and the blood in them is under much lower
all the organs and tissues of
pressure because it is a long way away from the thrust of the heart.
the body
They do not have a pulse, but they often have valves to prevent the
back-flow of blood as it moves from the various parts of the body
back to the heart. The only veins that carry bright red blood are
the pulmonary veins, which carry oxygenated blood back from
your lungs to the left-hand side of your heart, and the umbilical
vein, which carries oxygenated blood from the placenta back to the
developing foetus to supply it with the food and oxygen it needs
to grow.
Activity 3.18: Investigating the role of valves in veins

Figure 3.49 The valves in the You can easily investigate the role of the valves in preventing
veins stop your blood from the backflow of blood using your own hand.
flowing backwards and so move it Swing your arm around a few times to move blood down
on towards your heart. into your hand and then keep your hand hanging down. The
veins in your hand and lower arm should have become more
prominent and you should see bulges in places on the veins.
These are the valves. Find two valves with some vein visible
between them.
First press on the valve nearest to your heart and then gently
squeeze the blood out of the vein towards the other valve.
Release the second valve, and you should see blood flow back
into that stretch of vein.
Now repeat the other way round. Press on the valve furthest
from your heart, gently clear the blood to the next valve –
and then release the second valve. There should be no flow
of blood back into that stretch of vein, because the valve
prevents the backflow from higher up the arm. Once you
release the first valve, blood will flow back into the vessel from
the hand.
Between the arteries, that bring blood from the heart, and the veins,
that take it back to the heart, are very narrow, thin-walled blood
vessels called capillaries. The capillaries link the other two types of
blood vessels. These take the blood into all the organs and tissues of
106 Grade 9

head and arms
pulmonary artery aorta

pulmonary vein
vena cava
right atrium left atrium
right ventricle left ventricle
lungs
pulmonary artery pulmonary vein
liver
hepatic vein hepatic artery
hepatic portal vein

digestive system
kidneys
renal vein renal artery
Figure 3.50 This diagram shows

sex organs and legs
you the main components of the
human circulatory system.
the body. The capillaries are the site of the exchange of substances
within the body. Blood from the arteries passes into the capillaries,
which have very thin walls and a massive surface area. Substances
such as oxygen and glucose that are needed by the cells of your body
can easily pass out of the blood by diffusion along a concentration
gradient. In the same way substances produced by the cells such
as carbon dioxide pass into the blood through the walls of the
capillaries. The blood leaves the capillary network flowing back into
veins to be returned to the heart and recirculated around the body.
The human heart

The human heart is a bag of reddish-brown muscle that beats right KEY WORDS
from the early days of our development in the uterus until the end
of our life, sending blood around the body. The heart is made up of cardiac muscle contracting
two pumps that beat at the same time so that blood can be delivered muscle of the heart
to the body about 70 times each minute. The heart is made up coronary arteries supply
of a unique type of muscle known as cardiac muscle, which can blood to the cardiac
contract and relax more or less continuously without fatiguing. muscles
The walls of the heart are almost entirely muscle. These muscular atria top chambers of the
walls are supplied with blood by the coronary arteries, so that heart
they have a constant supply of glucose and oxygen and the carbon
dioxide produced is not allowed to build up in the tissue. The
deoxygenated blood is carried away in the coronary veins, which
feed back into the right atrium.
Grade 9 107

aorta
vena cava pulmonary artery

(superior)
pulmonary vein
left atrium
semilunar
bicuspid
valves
(mitral)
valve
right atrium
tricuspid Figure 3.51 The

valve left ventricle
structure of the
right
vena cava ventricle
human heart is
(inferior) perfectly adapted to
a) External view to show coronary arteries b) Vertical section through the heart the job it has to do.
The walls of the atria are relatively thin, so they can stretch to
contain a lot of blood. The walls of the ventricles are much thicker,
as they have to pump the blood out through the major blood
vessels. The muscle walls of the left-hand side of the heart are
thicker than on the right (see figure 3.51). This is because the left-
hand side of the heart has to pump blood around the whole body
whilst the right-hand side pumps only to the lungs.
The working of the heart

The two sides of the heart fill and empty at the same time to give
a strong, co-ordinated beat, but to understand what happens it is
easier to follow a single volume of blood around the heart.
Diastole: heart muscle is
relaxed and atria and ventricles • Deoxygenated blood, which has supplied oxygen to the cells of
fill with blood. the body and is loaded with carbon dioxide, comes into the right
atrium of the heart from the veins of the body.
• The atrium contracts and forces blood into the right ventricle.
• The right ventricle contracts and forces blood out of the heart
and into the lungs where it is oxygenated – it picks up oxygen.
• Oxygenated blood returns to the left-hand side of the heart from
the lungs and the left atrium fills up.
• The left atrium contracts forcing blood into the left ventricle.
• The left ventricle contracts forcing oxygenated blood out of the
heart and around the body.
Systole: ventricles contract and

Inside the heart there are many different valves. Their names
force blood out through the arteries. describe their appearance – bicuspid (two parts) tricuspid (three
Tricuspid and bicuspid valves close to parts) and semilunar (half-moon). Each time the muscular walls of
prevent blood passing back into atria.
the heart contract and force blood out, some of these valves open
Figure 3.52 As the heart fills and to allow the blood to flow in the right direction, and other valves
empties the two sides of the heart close to make sure that the blood does not flow backwards. The
work in perfect harmony. noise of the heartbeat we can hear through a stethoscope is actually
the sound of these valves transporting the surging blood. First the
108 Grade 9

atria fill with blood and then the ventricles fill, followed by the
KEY WORDS
contraction of both ventricles, emptying the heart.
ventricles large, lower
Diastole is when the heart muscles relax and it fills with blood.
Systole is when the heart muscles contract and force the blood out chambers of the heart that
of the heart. pump blood out to the
lungs and body
The pressure at which the blood travels around your arteries varies
as the heart beats. So when doctors measure your blood pressure valve mechanism in the
they usually do it in a way that covers the two extremes of the cardiac veins that allows blood to
cycle. At systole, when the heart is contracting and forcing blood flow in one direction only
out into your arteries, the blood pressure is at its highest – this is the diastole the relaxed heart
systolic blood pressure and it is the higher of the two readings taken. when the blood pressure is
At diastole, when the heart is relaxed and filling, the pressure is lower lowest
– this is the diastolic blood pressure and it is the lower reading. A systole the heart as it
normal blood pressure is 120 mmHg/80 mmHg – usually quoted as
contracts, when the blood
120 over 80 or 120/80. Your blood pressure will vary through the day
and depending on what you are doing. Blood pressure is used as a
pressure is highest
measure of the health of both the heart and the blood vessels.
Activity 3.19: Examining a mammalian heart

If you have the opportunity to dissect the heart of an animal
like a sheep or a pig, you can see the different features from
the diagram and gain an insight into their adaptations and Cut 2
(left atrium)
how the whole heart works. However, the blood vessels and the
atria can be damaged by the butcher, so you may not be able
to see everything you would like to.
You will need:
• board for dissection
• dissecting equipment including a scalpel and a mounted
needle – take care, the blade is very sharp
• heart from domestic animal, e.g. sheep, cow – you need
as many of the tubes intact as possible and any
surrounding fat Cut 1
Cut 3
(right (left
Method atrium) ventricle)
1. Examine the heart carefully while still intact. Find the blood Figure 3.53 Guide to dissecting a
vessels, the atria, the ventricles, the coronary arteries and mammalian heart
any fat. Draw and label what you can see.
2. Make cuts through the wall of the heart as shown in
figure 3.53.
3. Open the heart gently and try to identify as many structures
as you can. Compare the thickness of the walls of the
atria (if they are present), the right ventricle and the left
ventricle and remind yourself of why they are so different.
Look for the valves between the atria and the ventricles and
the valves between the ventricles and the great vessels –
the pulmonary vein and the aorta.
4. Draw and annotate your dissection.
Grade 9 109

The flexible heart

When we are resting our heart beats steadily at around 70 beats
every minute, supplying all the needs of the cells. However, physical
exercise means that muscles need more food and oxygen to work,
and so the heart needs to supply more blood. It does this in two
ways. The heart beats faster – the pulse rate can easily go up from
rest to 120 or even 140 beats a minute, increasing the amount of
blood flowing around the body. The heart can also increase the
amount of blood pumped out at each heartbeat.
If people do lots of physical exercise and are fit, their heart responds
by becoming bigger and stronger. Because their heart pumps more
blood with each beat, fit people tend to have relatively slow resting
heartbeats – some are as low as 50 beats a minute.
Your heart doesn’t beat with a steady rhythm all the time – it
responds to all the needs of your body. When you exercise your
heart rate increases; if you are worried, stressed or angry your heart
rate will go up as well – sitting an exam or having an argument can
raise your heart rate as much as if you were running a race!
400
Pulse rate (beats per minute)
unfit
100
65
fit
before exercise during exercise after exercise

(i.e. at rest) (violent exercise) (recovering)
Figure 3.54 A fit heart responds quickly to exercise and returns

rapidly to its resting rate when exercise is finished. People with less
fit hearts can feel them racing for several minutes after they stop
exercising!
110 Grade 9

Activity 3.20: Measuring your own heart rate and investigating the effect of
activity on your heart rate
A good way of telling how Method
fit you are is to measure 1. First practise actually finding and taking your pulse either
your resting heart rate. The in your wrist or in the side of your neck!
simplest way to investigate 2. Find out your resting pulse rate. Sit quietly without
your heart rate is to take speaking for two minutes at least. Then start the stopwatch
your pulse – your pulse and record the number of pulse beats in 15 seconds. Repeat
simply reflects the surge this three times to get an average resting pulse.
of blood in the arterial
system each time your heart 3. Now exercise gently for two minutes by walking on the spot.
contracts, so it is a good 4. As soon as you stop exercising, find your pulse and record
way of recording your heart the number of beats in 15 seconds. Repeat this every 30
rate. The fitter you are, the seconds until your pulse returns to your resting rate.
fewer beats per minute you 5. Now change the way you exercise. Exercise harder for two
will have. Then see what minutes by gentle jogging on the spot. As soon as you stop
happens when you exercise exercising, start to record your pulse beats. Record for 15
– the increase in your heart seconds every 30 seconds until it returns to your resting rate.
rate and how fast it returns 6. Finally exercise hard for two minutes – run on the spot as
to normal is another way hard as you can. As soon as you stop exercising start to
of finding out how fit you record your pulse. Record it as above until it returns to
are – or aren’t! Anyone who your resting rate. If you prefer, you can simply extend your
is affected by asthma or period of more gentle exercise, by walking or jogging gently
has any other illness should for four minutes instead of two.
take care before taking part 7. Write up your investigation, including your results. If you
in this practical and take multiply all of your results by four it will give you your
any medication they would pulse rate per minute.
normally use before a PE
session. Anyone who does
not normally take part in PE Beats in 15 seconds Pulse rate
should act as timekeeper and (beats per minute)
recorder in this investigation Before 1
and not take part in the exercise 2
physical exercise. 3
mean
You will need: 0
Time after
• stopwatch or clock with exercise(s) 30
clear second hand 60
90
120, etc.
Make a graph of your own personal data and explain what you
have observed. In some cases your pulse rate may drop below
your normal resting rate as you recover. Can you explain what
is happening?
8. Collect data from other members of the class and compare
the pulse rates and recovery times of the group. Now look
for patterns in your data. Are there differences between
boys and girls? Do the members of sports teams show
different patterns to the rest of the class?
Grade 9 111

Did you know? The blood

Each adult has The heart and the blood vessels are there to carry the transport
approximately 5 litres medium around your body – and the transport medium is your
(10.6 pints) of blood blood. Your blood is a complex mixture of cells and liquid that
containing about 15 billion carries a huge range of substances around the body. It consists of a
red blood cells that travel liquid called the plasma, which carries red blood cells, white blood
around their body in cells and platelets.
around 80 000 kilometres The plasma is a pale yellow liquid that transports all the blood cells
(50 000 miles) of blood but also a number of other things. Carbon dioxide produced in
vessels! the organs of the body is carried in the plasma back to the lungs.
Similarly urea, a waste product from the breakdown of excess
KEY WORD proteins formed in the liver, is carried in the plasma to the kidneys
where it is removed from the blood to form urine.
plasma pale yellow liquid
All the small, soluble products of digestion pass into the blood
component of blood that from the gut. They are carried in the plasma around the body to the
transports the blood cells organs and individual cells that need them.
One of the main components of your blood is the red blood cells.
There are more red blood cells than any other type of blood cell.
Did you know?
They are superbly adapted to their role in carrying oxygen around
The more red blood cells your body and supplying it to the cells where it is needed.
an athlete has, the more The red blood cells can do this because they are packed with a
oxygen they can carry special red substance called haemoglobin, which picks up oxygen.
and so the better they can Haemoglobin is a very special red pigment, a large protein molecule
perform. Some athletes folded around four iron atoms. In a high concentration of oxygen,
train at altitude because such as in the lungs, the haemoglobin reacts with oxygen to form
one way in which your oxyhaemoglobin. This is bright scarlet, which is why most arterial
body responds to the low blood is bright red. In areas where the concentration of oxygen is
oxygen levels at altitude is lower, such as the cells and organs of the body, the reaction reverses.
to make more red blood The oxyhaemoglobin splits to give purple-red haemoglobin (the
cells. Training at altitude colour of venous blood) and oxygen. The oxygen then passes into
is legal, but some other the cells where it is needed by diffusion. This reversible reaction
ways of increasing your makes active life as we know it possible by carrying oxygen to all the
red blood cell count to places where it is really needed.
avoid oxygen debt are
not: sometimes athletes high oxygen concentration
remove some of their own haemoglobin + oxygen oxyhaemoglobin
blood, store it and then, low oxygen concentration
just before a competition, The red blood cells are made in your bone marrow and once they
transfuse it back again are mature they lose their nucleus. This means that there is more
(blood doping); others room to carry extra haemoglobin – another adaptation to their
use hormones to stimulate all-important function. Because they have no nucleus, the red cells
the growth of more red only live 100–120 days in your body, so they are constantly being
blood cells. Both of these replaced. Because the haemoglobin in your red blood cells is based
methods give an athlete on iron, it is important to eat enough iron in your diet. Without it,
extra red blood cells to the body cannot make enough red blood cells and you suffer from
carry more oxygen to the anaemia. People who are anaemic are pale and lack energy, because
working muscles so they they cannot carry enough oxygen around the body for their needs.
can run faster or compete
better. The red blood cells have a unique shape – they form biconcave
discs. This is another adaptation to their function. The shape gives
112 Grade 9

them a large surface area to volume ratio for the diffusion of oxygen phagocyte
into and out of the cell. It also means they are relatively thin, giving platelets
short diffusion distances, which again makes the exchange of gases
more efficient.
Red blood cells also have a thin surface membrane for ease of
diffusion. This allows them to squeeze easily through the very
narrow capillaries.
Another important component of your blood is the white blood
cells. They are much bigger than the red cells and there are fewer
of them. They have a nucleus and form part of the body’s defence red blood
cells
system against microbes. Some white blood cells – the lymphocytes phagocyte
lymphocyte
– form antibodies against microbes whilst others – the phagocytes
– engulf invading bacteria. You will find out more about the role Figure 3.55 Mixed together with
of the white blood cells in your body when you study the immune plasma these different types of
system later in this book. cells make up our blood.
Platelets are another component of your blood. They are small
fragments of cells and they are very important in helping your mesh of protein
threads
blood to clot at the site of a wound. When platelets arrive at a
wound site they are involved in the formation of a network of
protein threads. Then as more platelets and red blood cells pour
out of the wound they become entangled in the mesh of threads
forming a jelly-like clot. This soon dries and hardens to form a scab.
The clotting of the blood is a very important process. It prevents you
from bleeding to death from a simple cut. It also protects your body
from the entry of bacteria and other pathogens (disease-causing
micro-organisms) through an open wound, and protects the new platelets red blood cell
skin from damage as it grows.
Figure 3.56 Without platelets,
Human blood groups clotting would not occur and
we could bleed to death from a
A number of special proteins called antigens are found on the simple cut.
surface of all cells. They allow cells to recognise each other and
also to recognise cells from different organisms. If the cells of your
KEY WORDS
immune system recognise a foreign antigen on a cell in your body,
they will produce antibodies. These antibodies will join on to the red blood cells carry
antigen and destroy the foreign cells. This is how your immune oxygen around the body
system recognises and fights the organisms which cause disease. haemoglobin red pigment
A number of different antigens are found specifically on the surface inside red blood cells
of the red blood cells. This gives us the different human blood oxyhaemoglobin bright red
groups. There are several different blood grouping systems, but the product that forms in the
best known is the ABO system. In this system there are two possible blood when oxygen from
antigens on the red blood cells – antigen A and antigen B. There
the lungs combines with
are also two possible antibodies in the plasma, known as antibody a
and antibody b. Unlike most other antibodies, these antibodies are
haemoglobin
present in your body all the time. They are not made in response anaemia deficiency disease
to a particular antigen. Table 3.7 shows you the four combinations from lack of iron
of antibodies and antigens which give rise to the four ABO blood white blood cells form
groups. part of the body’s defence
against microbes
Grade 9 113

KEY WORDS Table 3.7 Antigens and antibodies of different blood groups
phagocytes white blood Blood group Antigen on red Antibody in the

cells that engulf invading blood cells plasma
bacteria A A b
platelets small components B B a
of blood that help it to clot AB AB none
at the site of a wound O none ab
antigens proteins found on
If the blood from different blood groups is mixed together, there
the outer surface of all cells
may be a reaction between the antigen and the complementary
antibodies proteins made antibody which makes the red blood cells stick together
by white blood cells that (agglutinate). This means they cannot work properly. They block
inactivate pathogens the capillaries and even larger blood vessels. Most of the time this
is not important since everyone keeps their own blood in their
own circulatory system. But if someone loses a lot of blood in an
accident, an injury, when giving birth or during an operation then
they may need a blood transfusion. This is when blood taken from
one person is given to another to save their life. Before a
Recipient transfusion it is vital to know the blood groups of both
O A B AB
(antibodies (antigen A, (antigen B, (antigens the person giving the blood (the donor) and the person
Donor
a and b) antibody b) antibody a) A and B)
receiving the blood (the recipient). This means the right
type of blood can be given to prevent agglutination. The
O
(antibodies blood groups must be compatible. It is not usually the
a and b)
case that only one type of blood can be given, simply
A
that blood containing a particular antigen must not be
(antigen A, mixed with blood containing the matching antibody.
antibody b)
For example, blood group O has no antigens so it can
B
be given to anyone, but someone who has blood group
(antigen B, O has both antibodies so they can only receive group O
antibody a)
blood! On the other hand someone with blood group
AB AB which has no antibodies can receive any type of
(antigens
A and B)
blood! Figure 3.57 summarises the compatibilities of the
different blood groups.
Figure 3.57 This diagram shows There is another important factor which affects the safety of blood
you the compatibility of the donations. HIV/AIDS is a very serious disease which affects
different blood groups. the blood and the immune system. If someone receives a blood
donation from a person infected with HIV/AIDS they too will
become infected. For this reason all blood which is used for blood
donations needs to be screened carefully. Only people who are free
from HIV infection should donate blood, and blood should be
treated to remove any risk of cross-infection. You will be learning a
lot more about HIV/AIDS in section 4.3 of this book.
Two common problems of the circulatory system

One common problem of the circulatory system is a condition
called anaemia. If you are anaemic you have too few red blood
cells in the body, or the levels of the oxygen-carrying red pigment
haemoglobin in your blood are too low. There are a number of
causes of anaemia. The most common is a lack of iron in the diet.
114 Grade 9

As you saw in section 3.1, iron-rich food includes meat and liver as KEY WORD
well as apricots, eggs and some green leafy vegetables. If your diet
is lacking in these foodstuffs, you may suffer anaemia. The main hypertension high blood
symptoms are tiredness and lack of energy, because your body pressure
cells are constantly deprived of oxygen. This means you cannot
study or work as effectively. Girls are more likely to be anaemic
than boys because they lose iron each month in their menstrual
bleeding. Women are more likely to be anaemic than men because
of the demands of pregnancy when they need to take in enough
iron for both themselves and their developing baby, and because of
the blood loss during and after childbirth. However, both men and
women who are malnourished can be affected by anaemia. Anyone
who suffers an injury and bleeds a lot, or who has internal bleeding
for any cause, is also likely to become anaemic if they do not have a
blood transfusion and a diet rich in iron.
Hypertension is another common complaint of the circulatory
system. Hypertension is the medical name for high blood pressure.
Blood pressure is considered high if the systolic pressure is greater
than 140 mmHg or the diastolic pressure is greater than 90 mmHg.
For 90% of the cases of hypertension, the cause is unknown. For Figure 3.58 It takes very little
the other 10%, hypertension is a symptom of another disease, such time to take your blood pressure.
as chronic kidney diseases or diseases in the arteries supplying the Yet regular checks to monitor your
kidneys, chronic alcohol abuse, hormonal disturbances or tumours. blood pressure can pick up any
problems early before your heart
There are a number of factors that can increase the risk of you and blood vessels are damaged.
developing hypertension. Many of these factors mean that your
blood vessels are likely to be getting narrower, or becoming more
rigid, both of which increase your blood pressure. Activity 3.21: Modelling
the effects of narrowing
These factors include: increasing age, being overweight, excessive blood vessels on blood
salt intake, excessive consumption of alcohol, sedentary (inactive) pressure
lifestyle, smoking, kidney diseases, diabetes and certain medicines,
such as steroids. You can model the way in
which narrow blood vessels
There is also evidence to suggest that hypertension may be genetic increase your blood pressure
(i.e. run in the family). using water from the tap.
Hypertension in Ethiopia Attach a piece of rubber
tubing to a tap and let
There are record high levels of high blood pressure in Ethiopia. it run.
Although people living and working in the countryside have very
low levels, recent scientific studies show us that as many as 30% of Observe the force of the
the adults living in cities such as Addis Ababa have hypertension water coming out (the water
or are on medication to control high blood pressure. There are pressure).
similarly high levels of obesity and people who take very little Now squeeze the rubber
exercise. This growth of hypertension in Ethiopian cities may lead tubing gently to narrow it.
to many problems in the future, because high blood pressure causes
damage to many systems in the body. It can cause heart attacks and What happens to the water
strokes. pressure now – and how
is this relevant to what
Treatment of hypertension happens in your body if your
blood vessels narrow with
For many people hypertension can be managed through lifestyle age or disease?
adjustments. Losing weight, lowering the salt levels in the diet and
Grade 9 115

becoming more active will lower the blood pressure back within
normal level for some people. However, for some people these
changes have little effect on their blood pressure.
Fortunately, if your blood pressure is raised and does not respond
to changes in your lifestyle, there are also medications that can be
taken. Some common ones include diuretics, which increase the
frequency of urination. These remove water from the body, which
reduces the blood volume and so lowers the blood pressure. There
Figure 3.59 Careful monitoring are other drugs that block the nerves which narrow the arteries.
at clinics, changes in lifestyle and These are known as beta blockers, while there are other drugs
the use of medication will bring which act directly on the brain. Once people start using medication
high blood pressure under control for hypertension, they will usually need it for many years or life.
for most people. Because of the long timescale for treating hypertension, cost is an
important consideration in the choice of drugs.
Summary
In this section you have learnt that: 3 – White blood cells, which defend against
• The body transport system consists of the attack by microbes.
blood vessels (the pipes), the heart (the 4 – Platelets, which help clot the blood.
pump) and the blood (the medium). • Oxygen is carried by haemoglobin, which
• Human beings have a double circulation – becomes oxyhaemoglobin in a reversible
the pulmonary circulation to the lungs and reaction.
the systemic circulation to the body. • Tissue fluid is forced out of the blood in
• The three main types of blood vessels are the capillaries and bathes the cells of the
the arteries, veins and capillaries and they body. Exchange of substances by diffusion
are each adapted for a different function. between the blood and the cells takes place
through the tissue fluid.
• The heart is mainly made of muscle.
• When the tissue fluid passes into the
• It pumps blood around the body in lymph system it becomes lymph. Lymph
response to the needs of the tissues. eventually returns to the blood enriched
• Blood enters the atria of the heart, which with antibodies.
contract to force blood into the ventricles. • There are four main blood groups: A, B, AB
When the ventricles contract blood leaves and O. They are not all compatible and they
the heart to go to the lungs (from the must be matched carefully before a blood
right) and around the body (from the left). transfusion.
• Valves control the flow of blood in the • Anaemia and hypertension are two diseases
heart. of the circulatory system which are
• The blood has four main components: particularly common in Ethiopia.
1 – Plasma, which transports dissolved food
molecules, carbon dioxide and urea.
2 – Red blood cells, which transport
oxygen.
116 Grade 9

Review questions KEY WORDS

Select the correct answer from A to D. diuretics chemicals which
1. What are the main parts of the human transport system? increase the output of urine
A the heart, the blood vessels and the blood beta blockers drugs that
B the heart, the blood and the lymph are used to lower blood
C the heart, the arteries and the veins
pressure
D the arteries, the veins and the capillaries
2. The main job of the arteries is:
A to carry deoxygenated blood away from the heart
B to carry oxygenated blood away from the heart
C to carry deoxygenated blood to the heart
D to carry oxygenated blood to the heart
3. Which type of vessels have a pulse?
A capillaries
B lymph vessels
C veins
D arteries
4. Which chamber of the heart has the thickest walls?
A right atrium
B left atrium
C right ventricle
D left ventricle
5. The main role of the platelets in your blood is in:
A the clotting mechanism
B the carriage of oxygen
C the carriage of carbon dioxide
D the production of antibodies against invading organisms
Grade 9 117


1. What are the main similarities and differences between the
three main food groups, carbohydrates, proteins and fats?
2. What is a condensation reaction and why is it so important in
the food we eat?
3. How would you test a food sample to see if it contained i) starch
and ii) fat?
4. Plan a menu of meals for a day and show how eating this food
would give a person a balanced diet.
5. The three main types of food molecules are carbohydrates,
proteins and fats.
a) For each of these substances, give three examples of foods
and where you would find them.
b) State what each substance is used for in the body.
6. a) What are enzymes?
b) How do enzymes work?
c) List the types of enzymes made in the salivary glands, the
stomach, the pancreas and the small intestine. In each case
say which food substance the enzymes break down.
7. a) Explain how the gut is adapted to allow digested food to be
absorbed readily into the blood.
b) Explain what happens if too much water is reabsorbed
into the blood from the material in the large intestine and
the problems this can cause.
c) Explain what happens if too little water is reabsorbed into
the blood from the material in the large intestine and the
problems this can cause.
8. a) Define the terms ingestion, digestion, absorption,
assimilation and egestion.
b) There can be a number of problems with egestion. Explain
how these problems can affect the health of the individual
concerned.
9. a) Explain how canning preserves food.
b) Give two examples of common canned food.
c) Cans should always be handled and stored carefully. Explain
why this is.
118 Grade 9

10. For gas exchange in the lungs to work effectively we need

to move air in and out of the lungs regularly. We do this by
breathing. Our breathing movements involve the muscles
between the ribs and the diaphragm. Explain carefully, using
diagrams if you feel they will help, the events that take place:
a) when you breathe in
b) when you breathe out
11. The air you breathe in contains about 20% oxygen and only
0.04% carbon dioxide. The air you breathe out contains around
16% oxygen and 4% carbon dioxide. What happens in your
lungs to bring about this change? (Include details of the alveoli
of the lungs in your answer.)
12. Make a table summarising the main components of tobacco
smoke and their effects on the human body.
13. a) Smokers are more likely to get infections of their breathing
system than non-smokers. Why do you think this might be?
b) In bronchitis, the tubes leading down to the lungs produce
a lot of mucus. Compare the way the body of a non-smoker
would deal with this mucus with the effect it would have on
a smoker.
14. a) Define the following terms:
aerobic respiration; anaerobic respiration; oxygen debt
b) Write a word equation for aerobic respiration.
c) How does aerobic respiration differ from anaerobic
respiration?
15. a) Aerobic respiration provides energy for the cells of the body.
Explain why cells need this energy and what they use it for.
b) If you exercise very hard or for a long time, your muscles
begin to ache and do not work so effectively. Explain why.
c) If you exercise very hard, you often puff and pant for some
time after you stop. Explain what is happening.
16. Copy and complete this table to show the main components of
the blood, their appearance and what they do in your body.
Part of the blood Description
Grade 9 119

17. The plasma is very important for transporting substances round

the body. Three of the main substances transported are carbon
dioxide, urea and digested food.
a) For each substance say where in the body it enters the
plasma.
b) For each substance say where it is transported to, and what
happens to it when it gets there.
18. The red blood cells carry oxygen around the body.
a) Draw and label a typical red blood cell.
b) Explain how red blood cells carry oxygen around your body
and release it in the tissues where it is needed.
c) How are red blood cells adapted for their role in your body?
A E 19. a) The diagram opposite shows a vertical section of a human
heart. Match the structures listed below to the labels on the
F
heart. Write the letter from the diagram with the correct
B G label.
C
aorta left atrium
H
pulmonary artery right ventricle
I
pulmonary vein bicuspid valve
vena cava tricuspid valve
D J left ventricle semilunar valve
b) Describe the flow of blood through the heart, from the time
it enters the heart through the vena cava to leaving the heart
through the aorta.
20. This diagram shows the double circulation of the human heart.
body Use it to help you answer the following questions:
a) Copy the diagram and shade it blue in the areas where the
blood is deoxygenated and red in the areas where you would
expect oxygenated blood.
b) What happens to the blood in the body?
heart c) What happens to the blood in the lungs?
d) Why is it called a double circulation?
21. a) Name the three main types of blood vessel.
b) Describe the job of each type of blood vessel in the body.
c) Draw an annotated diagram of each type of blood vessel,
lungs
using the annotations to describe how the blood vessel is
adapted to its function.
120 Grade 9

22. Plan an investigation into the heart fitness levels of the teachers
in your school. Describe carefully how you would set up the
investigation, what precautions you would need to take and
how you would display your results.
23. a) Define the term hypertension.
b) Explain the term blood pressure and how it is maintained.
c) Give five major risk factors for hypertension.
d) Levels of hypertension are increasing rapidly in Ethiopian
cities, but much less so in rural communities. How would
you explain this difference?

Grade 9 121

Copy the crossword puzzle below into your exercise book (or your
teacher may give you a photocopy) and solve the numbered clues to
complete it.
1 2
4 5
6 7
10
11
Across
1 The addictive drug in cigarettes (8)
3 The food group needed for body building and growth (7)
4 Too much food can cause excess fat called ******* (7)
7 The organ in which gas exchange takes place (4)
8 The gas carried around the body in the red blood cells (6)
10 The form in which energy is needed in the cell (3)
11 Food in the digestive system is broken down by ******* (7)
Down
2 The main food group used to supply energy to the body (12)
5 The region of the small intestine where digested food is absorbed
into the blood (5)
6 The chemical used to test for starch (6)
9 Greenish liquid formed in the liver and stored in the gall bladder
(4)
122 Grade 9

Index
abdomen 83, 85 kingdom 178, 179 cells 14, 15, 17, 19, 20, dichotomous key 175
absorption 76, 80 staining to identify 22–32, 45 dicotyledons class 185
active transport 32, 33, 131–133, 136 cellular respiration 45, 47, diffusion 32, 33–36, 45, 46,
45–46, 47, 100 and teeth 73 86, 99–100 76, 77, 86, 87, 104, 107
acute watery diarrhoea balanced diet, importance cellulose 25, 54 digestive system 69–80
(AWD) see gastroenteritis of 64–66, 67 centipedes 189 diplopoda 189
adenosine diphosphate Benedict’s test for reducing chancroid 152–3, 156 diseases 126–131, 137–156
(ADP) 99–100 sugars 55 chemotrophs 204 fight against 133–136
adenosine triphosphate betablockers 116 chest 84–85 see also HIV/AIDS
(ATP) 99–102 bile 75, 77, 80 chilopoda 189 disinfectant 128–129, 136
aerobic respiration 99–100, bilharzia (schistosomiasis) chlorophyll 25, 31, 181 double circulation 105, 116
102 2–3 chloroplasts 25, 31 drugs 92
agriculture 5, 9 biodiversity 3, 9, 171 cholera 145–146, 155 see also smoking
altitude 92 biomass 208–209, 211 cholesterol 58, 59 duodenum 75
alveoli 28, 84, 86–87, 92, birds 194 chordata phylum 190, 191
97 Biuret test for proteins 57, chromosomes 23, 29 echinodermata phylum 186,
amino acids 56, 76, 77, 214 67 chronic obstructive 188
amphibia class 192–193 blood 104 pulmonary disorder ecosystems
amylase 70–71, 74 clotting 113 (COPD) 94 carbon cycle 214–217
anaemia 61, 67, 113, 112, components of 27, 40, cilia 28, 83, 93 components of 200–203
114–115, 116 112–113 circulatory system 104–116 energy 208–211
anaerobic respiration double circulation 105 blood 105, 112–116 food chains 205–209,
100–102 groups 113–14, 116 blood vessels 94, 105–7 210, 211
angiospermae 181, 184–185 pressure 109, 115–116 heart 59, 91, 94, 104, food relationships
animal kingdom 178, vessels 104, 105–7, 116 105, 107–111, 116 204–205
186–195 breathing 84–93, 96, 97 problems of 114–116 food webs 207, 211
annelida phylum 186, 188 see also smoking classification 171–177 habitats 201–202
antibiotics 133, 136 bronchi 84 coelenterate phylum 186, nitrogen cycle 213–214,
antibodies 113–114, bronchioles 84 187 217
126–127, 136 bryophyta division 181–182 competition 202–203 recycling 212–213
antigens 113–114, 126–127 concentration 32, 33, egestion 77, 80
antiretrovirals 162, 165 calcium 61, 67 34–35, 45, 46 egg cells 29, 32
antiseptics 129, 136 cancers 93, 94 condensation reaction 53, embryonic stem cells 27
anus 77, 82 capillaries 106–107, 113, 56, 79 endoplasmic reticulum 23,
arachnida 189, 190 116, 161 conifers 181, 183–184 24, 31
arctic animals 218–219 carbohydrases 74, 76 constipation 78 energy 58, 65–66, 69,
arteries 105–106, 107, 116 carbohydrates 52–55, 67, 69 crustacea 189 99–100, 102, 208–10
arthropoda phylum 186, 189 carbon 52, 56, 58 cyanide 100 enzymes 25, 58, 70–1, 74,
artificial immunity 133, 136 cycle 214–217 cytoplasm 23, 24, 31, 75–7, 80
assimilation 77, 80 carbon dioxide 36, 46, 82, 39–40, 41 epiglottis 74
atrium 107–108, 116 86–88, 89, 90, 92, 97, epithelial cells 28, 32
autoclaving 127 99, 112, 215–216 decomposers 205, 212–213, eukaryotic cells 179, 181
aves class 194 carbon monoxide 93, 97 217 excretion 22, 31, 77
carnivores 202, 204, 205, deforestation 216 exercise 89–91, 97,
B-cells 161 207, 209 dental caries 73 110–111
bacteria 124–125 catalase 70 desert animals 219–220
as decomposers 205, 217 cell membrane 23, 31, 46 diaphragm 84–85, 97 faeces 77, 78
denitrifying 214 cell wall 25, 31 diarrhoea 78, 143–147 fats and oils 52, 58–60, 75
and food hygiene 78–79 diastole 109, 115
226 Grade 9
Z01_BIOL_SB_ETHG9_0087_IND.indd 226 1/6/10 11:38:28 am

fatty acids 58–59, 76, 77 hydrolysis reaction 64, 69, and vaccine production pancreas 75
ferns 181, 182–183 70, 80 133–135 parasites 2, 137
hypertension 62, 115–116 microscopes 14–21 see also flatworms; tape-
fibre 64 millipedes 189 worms
fish 191 ileum 80 Pasteur, Louis 126
flatworms 2, 187 immune system 113, minerals 52, 61–62 pasteurisation 128
flowering plants 181, 184 126–127, 133–136 mitochondria 23, 25, 28, pepsin 75
food and nutrition 51–67 and HIV/AIDS 127, 30, 31, 47, 99, 100 peptide link 56
food chains 205–209, 210, 161–162 mollusca phylum 186, 188 pH 57, 80
211 insects 189 monocotyledons class 184 phagocytes 113, 114
food hygiene 78–79, 80 intercostal muscles 85 mosquitoes 141–143 photosynthesis 25, 181,
food webs 207, 211 invertebrates 188 mosses 181–182 202, 211, 215, 216
fungi 125, 178, 180 iodine 15, 67, 71, 132 moulds 125 phototrophs 204, 211
iron 61, 67, 112, 115 muscles 30, 89–91, 100– pisces class 191
gall bladder 75, 77 irritability 22, 31 101, 102, 107 plankton 202
gastroenteritis 143–145, muscle fatigue 101, 102 plantae kingdom 178,
155 kingdoms 178–196 mutualism 180 181–185
genes 27 kwashiorkor 58 mycorrhizae 180 plants
germ theory 126, 136 active transport 45
global warming 216–217 lactic acid 101, 102 nematoda phylum 186, 187 competition among
glucose 45, 52, 53, 54, 76, larynx 83, 97 nerve cells (neurones) 202–203
77, 89, 91, 99 101, 107 lipase 75, 76 29–30 in desert climates
glycerol 58–59, 76, 77 lipids 58–60, 67, 69 nicotine 93, 97 220–221
glycogen 52, 54 liver 75, 77, 80 nitrogen 56 flowering 181, 184
gonorrhoea 148–149, 156 liverworts 181 cycle 213–214, 217 as food 204–205
greenhouse effect 216–217 lungs nose 82, 97 osmosis 41–44
gymnospermae 181, breathing 84–88, 96 notochord 190 photosynthesis 25, 181,
183–184 breathing rate 89–93 nucleus 23, 24, 25, 31, 135 202, 211, 215, 216
diseases of 94, 97 nutrition see food and seed distribution
habitats 201–202 and exercise 89–91 nutrition 221–222
adaptations to 218–221 gaseous exchange 86–89 surface area:volume ratio
haemoglobin 61, 112 smoking, effect of 93–95 obesity 66, 67, 92–3 220–1
heart 59, 91, 94, 104, 105, tuberculosis 140, 155 oesophagus 74, 82, 83 plasma 112, 113, 116
107–111, 116 lymph 161 omnivores 204 platelets 113, 114, 116
herbivores 202, 204, 205, lymph glands 161 organelles 23–25 platyhelminthes phylum
207, 209 lymphocytes 113, 126, 136, organs 28, 32 186, 187
heterotrophs 51, 204, 211 161 osmosis 32, 33, 36–39, 46 porifera phylum 186
high blood pressure in animals 39–40 pregnancy issues 65, 93,
see hypertension malaria 141–143, 155 in plants 41–44 97, 135, 161, 162
HIV/AIDS 3, 4, 8, 114, malnutrition 65, 66 ova see egg cells prokaryotic cells 179
158–165 mammalian class 195 oxygen 36, 58, 89, 91, 92, proteins 30, 52, 55–58, 67,
attitudes to 162 marasmus 58 97 69, 70
Ethiopian perspective on marsupials 195 in aerobic respiration protista kingdom 178, 179
158–161 mastication 72 99–100 pteridophyta division
immune system, effect measles 135 in the blood 105, 108 182–183
on 127, 161–162 medicines 170–171 in breathing 86–87 pulmonary circulation 105,
prevention of 163–164 methane 216 in circulatory system 116
support for sufferers micro-organisms 105–107, 112 pulse 106, 110, 111
162–163, 165 control of 127–129 oxygen debt 101, 102 pyramids of energy 209–210
transmission of 158 culturing of 129–133, oxyhaemoglobin 112
treatment for 162–163 136 ozone 217 red blood cells 20, 27, 40,
hydrogen 52, 56, 58 and disease 126–127 61, 112–113, 116
drugs for controlling 133 reproductive cells 27, 28,
identification 124–125 29, 32
Grade 9 227

reptilia class 193–194 spermatophytes 182–183 teeth 72–73 venereal disease (VD) 148
respiration 22, 31, 69, 86, spiders 189, 190 temperature 80, 100, ventricles 108, 109, 116
99–102 sponges 186 127–8, 201, 210, 212 vertebrates 191–194
respiratory system 82–97 starch 52, 54, 71 tissue 27–28, 32, 57 villi 76, 80
resuscitation 96–97 sterilisation 127 tissue fluid 116, 161 viruses 125, 179
ribosomes 23, 28, 31 stomach 75 trachea 82, 83–84, 97 see also HIV/AIDS
roundworms 186, 187 sucrose 52, 53 tree planting 223 vitamins 51, 60, 62–3, 64,
sugars 52–55, 67 trophic levels 205 69
salivary glands 74 surface area:volume ratio tuberculosis (TB) 140, 155
salt 46, 47 104–105, 218, 220–221 typhoid 147–148, 156 water 64, 201
saturated fats 58, 59 swallowing reflex 74 see also hydrolysis;
scurvy 62, 63 syphilis 150–151, 156 ultra high temperature osmosis
segmented worms 186, 188 systemic circulation 105, (UHT) 128 white blood cells 113, 116,
sexually transmitted 116 unsaturated fats 59 126–127
diseases (STDs) 148–153 systole 109, 115
see also HIV/AIDS vaccines 4, 133–135, 136 yeast 102, 125
smoking 93–95, 97 T-cells 161–162, 165 vacuole 25, 31
sodium 61–62 tapeworms 138–139, 155 valves 106, 108, 109, 116
species 172 tar 93–95, 97 vectors 141–143
sperm 27, 28 taxonomy 173–175, 177 veins 106, 116
228 Grade 9

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Biology

Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia ISBN 978-99944-2-008-7

CVR_BIOL_SB_ETH_0087_CVR.indd 1 10/6/10 4:35:29 pm

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Adviser: Alemu Asfaw

Evaluators: Solomon Belayneh

Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia

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Unit 2 Cell biology 13

Unit 3 Human biology and health 50

Unit 4 Micro-organisms and disease 123

Unit 5 Classification 171

Unit 6 Environment 200

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1.1 Renowned Ethiopian biologists

By the end of this section you should be able to:

Welcome to the study of biology! Biology is the study of life and

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Dr Aklilu Lemma and the battle against bilharzia

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Professor Tilahun Yilma and his vaccines

M01_BIOL_SB_ETHG9_0087_U01.indd 3 1/6/10 11:31:25 am

including his own country Ethiopia. Now he is working on using

Professor Yalemtsehay Mekonnen: The first female

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produce high yields without commercial fertilisers. Dr Worede’s

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• Dr Zeresenay Alemseged discovered a 3.3 million-year-old

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1.2 Biological research in Ethiopia

By the end of this section you should be able to:

Biologists, like other scientists, do not work alone. A biologist needs

Addis Ababa University (AAU) Biology Department

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Armauer Hansen Research Institute (AHRI)

Aklilu Lemma Institute of Pathobiology (ALIPB)

Ethiopian Health and Nutrition Research Institute

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Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research (EIAR)

The Institute of Biodiversity Conservation (IBC)

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Activity 1.2: Discovering Activity 1.3: Making a table of research institutions

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End of unit questions

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2.1 The microscope

By the end of this section you should be able to:

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Biologists use different tools to help them study living organisms.

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more detail clearly we need an electron microscope where an electron

The light microscope KEY WORD

Type of stain Type of cells Main organelles stained

Haematoxylin Animal and plant Nuclei stained blue/

Methylene Animal cells Nuclei stained blue

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To calculate the magnification of the specimen, you multiply the