Nutrition:

The process by which an organism takes food and utilizes it, is called nutrition.
Need for Nutrition:
 Organisms need the energy to perform various activities. The energy is supplied by the nutrients. Organisms need various raw materials for
growth and repair. These raw materials are provided by nutrients.
Nutrients:
 Materials which provide nutrition to organisms are called nutrients. Carbohydrates, proteins and fats are the main nutrients and are called
macronutrients. Minerals and vitamins are required in small amounts and hence are called micronutrients.
Modes of Nutrition
 Autotrophic Nutrition: The mode of nutrition in which an organism prepares its own food is called autotrophic nutrition. Green plants and
blue-green algae follow the autotrophic mode of nutrition.
 Heterotrophic Nutrition: The mode of nutrition in which an organism prepares its own food is called autotrophic nutrition. Green plants and
blue-green algae follow the autotrophic mode of nutrition.
Autotrophic Nutrition:-
 Autotrophic nutrition is fulfilled by the process, by which autotrophs intake CO2 and H2O, and convert these into carbohydrates in the
presence of chlorophyll, sunlight is called photosynthesis.
Nutrition in Plants:
 Green plants prepare their own food. They make food in the presence of sunlight. Sunlight provides energy’, carbon dioxide and water are
the raw materials and chloroplast is the site where food is made.
Photosynthesis:
 The process by which green plants prepare food is called photosynthesis.During this process, the solar energy is converted into chemical
energy and carbohydrates are formed.
Main Events of Photosynthesis:
 Absorption of light energy by chlorophyll.
 Conversion of light energy into chemical energy + splitting (breaking) of water into hydrogen and oxygen.
 Reduction of CO2 to carbohydrates.
 Sunlight activates chlorophyll, which leads to splitting of the water molecule.
 The hydrogen, released by the splitting of a water molecule is utilized for the reduction of carbon dioxide to produce carbohydrates.
 Oxygen is the by-product of photosynthesis.
 Carbohydrate is subsequently converted into starch and is stored in leaves and other storage parts.
Stomata:
 These are tiny pores present in the epidermis of leaf or stem through which gaseous exchange and transpiration occur.
Functions of stomata:
 Exchange of gases, O2 and CO2.
 Loses a large amount of water (water vapour) during transpiration.
 Life Processes Class 10 Notes Science Chapter 6 img-5
 Opening and closing of stomatal pores:
 The opening and closing of stomatal pores are controlled by the turgidity of guard cells.
 When guard cells uptake water from surrounding cells, they swell to become a turgid body, which enlarges the pore in between (Stomatal
Opening).
 While, when water is released, they become flaccid shrinking to close the pore (Stomatal Closing).
Significance of Photosynthesis:
 Photosynthesis is the main way through which solar energy is made available for different living beings.
 Green plants are the main producers of food in the ecosystem. All other organisms directly or indirectly depend on green plants for food.
 The process of photosynthesis also helps in maintaining the balance of carbon dioxide and oxygen in the air.
Heterotrophic Nutrition
 The mode of nutrition in which an organism takes food from another organism is called heterotrophic nutrition.
 Organisms, other than green plants and blue-green algae follow the heterotrophic mode of nutrition.
 Heterotrophic nutrition can be further divided into three types, viz. saprophytic nutrition, holozoic nutrition, and parasitic.

Saprophytic Nutrition:
 In saprophytic nutrition, the organism secretes the digestive juices on the food. All the decomposers follow saprophytic nutrition. Some
insects, like houseflies, also follow this mode of nutrition.
Holozoic Nutrition:
 In holozoic nutrition, the digestion happens inside the body of the organism. i.e., after the food is ingested. Most of the animals follow this
mode of nutrition.
Parasitic Nutrition:
 The organism which lives inside or outside another organism (host) and derives nutrition from it is known as parasites and this type of mode
of nutrition is called parasitic nutrition. For example Cuscuta, tick etc.
Holozoic Nutrition:
 In holozoic nutrition, the digestion of food follows after the ingestion of food. Thus, digestion takes place inside the body of the organism.
 Holozoic nutrition happens in five steps- ingestion, digestion, absorption, assimilation and egestion.
Steps of Holozoic Nutrition:
 Ingestion: The process of taking in the food is called ingestion.
 Digestion: The process of breaking complex food substances into simple molecules is called digestion.
 Absorption: The process of absorption of digested food is called absorption.
 Assimilation: The process of utilization of digested food, for energy and for growth and repair is called assimilation.
 Egestion: The process of removing undigested food from the body is called egestion.
Amoeba:
 Amoeba is a unicellular animal which follows the holozoic mode of nutrition.
 The cell membrane of amoeba keeps on protruding into pseudopodia.
 Amoeba surrounds a food particle with pseudopodia and makes a food vacuole. The food vacuole contains food particles and water.
 Digestive enzymes are secreted in the food vacuole and digestion takes place. After that, digested food is absorbed from the food vacuole.
 Finally, the food vacuole moves near the cell membrane and undigested food is expelled out.
Nutrition in Human Beings:
  Human beings are complex animals, which have a complex digestive system.
 The human digestive system is composed of an alimentary canal and some accessory glands. The alimentary canal is divided into several
parts, like oesophagus, stomach, small intestine, large intestine, rectum and anus.
 Salivary gland, liver and pancreas are the accessory glands which lie outside the alimentary canal.

Respiration:
 The process by which a living being utilises the food to get energy, is called respiration.
 Respiration is an oxidation reaction in which carbohydrate is oxidized to produce energy. Mitochondria is the site of respiration and the
energy released is stored in the form of ATP (adenosine triphosphate).
 ATP is stored in mitochondria and is released as per need.

Steps of respiration:

Aerobic respiration:
 This type of respiration happens in the presence of oxygen. Pyruvic acid is converted into carbon dioxide. Energy is released and water
molecule is also formed at the end of this process.
Anaerobic respiration:
 This type of respiration happens in the absence of oxygen. Pyruvic acid is either converted into ethyl alcohol or lactic acid. Ethyl alcohol is
usually formed in case of anaerobic respiration in microbes, like yeast or bacteria. Lactic acid is formed in some microbes as well as in the
muscle cells.
Pain in leg muscles while running:
 When someone runs too fast, he may experience throbbing pain in the leg muscles. This happens because of anaerobic respiration taking
place in the muscles.
 During running, the energy demand from the muscle cells increases. This is compensated by anaerobic respiration and lactic acid is formed in
the process.
 The deposition of lactic acid causes pain in the leg muscles. The pain subsides after taking rest for some time.
Human respiratory system
 The human respiratory system is composed of a pair of lungs. These are attached to a system of tubes which open on the outside through
the nostrils.
Following are the main structures in the human respiratory system:
 Nostrils: There are two nostrils which converge to form a nasal passage. The inner lining of the nostrils is lined by hair and remains wet due
to mucus secretion. The mucus and the hair help in filtering the dust particles out from inhaled air. Further, air is warmed up when it enters
the nasal passage.
 Pharynx: It is a tube-like structure which continues after the nasal passage.
 Larynx: This part comes after the pharynx. This is also called voice box.
 Trachea: This is composed of rings of cartilage. Cartilaginous rings prevent the collapse of trachea in the absence of air.
 Bronchi: A pair of bronchi comes out from the trachea, with one bronchus going to each lung.
 Bronchioles: A bronchus divides into branches and sub-branches inside the lung.
 Alveoli: These are air sacs at the end of bronchioles. The alveolus is composed of a very thin membrane and is the place where blood
capillaries open. This is alveolus, where the oxygen mixes with the blood and carbon dioxide exits from the blood. The exchange of gases, in
alveoli, takes place due to the pressure differential.

Transportation
 Circulatory system of human being, transportation in plants. Human beings like other multicellular organism need a regular supply of foods,
oxygen etc. This function is performed by a circulatory system or transport system.
Transportation in Human Beings:
 The circulatory system is responsible for transport of various substances in human beings. It is composed of the heart, arteries, veins and
blood capillaries. Blood plays the role of the carrier of substances.
1. Heart:
 Heart is a muscular organ, which is composed of cardiac muscles.
 It is so small that, it can fit inside an adult’s wrist. The heart is a pumping organ which pumps the blood.
 The human heart is composed of four chambers, viz. right atrium, right ventricle, left ventricle and left atrium.
 Systole: Contraction of cardiac muscles is called systole.
 Diastole: Relaxation of cardiac muscles is called diastole.
2. Arteries:
 These are thick-walled blood vessels which carry oxygenated blood from the heart to different organs.
 Pulmonary arteries are exceptions because they carry deoxygenated blood from the heart to lungs, where oxygenation of blood takes place.
3. Veins:
 These are thin-walled blood vessels which carry deoxygenated blood from different organs to the heart, pulmonary veins are exceptions
because they carry oxygenated blood from lungs to the heart.
 Valves are present in veins to prevent back flow of blood.

4. Capillaries:
 These are the blood vessels which have single-celled walls.
Blood:
 Blood is a connective tissue which plays the role of the carrier for various substances in the body. Blood is composed of 1. Plasma 2. Blood
cells 3. Platelets.
Blood plasma:
 Blood plasma is a pale coloured liquid which is mostly composed of water. Blood plasma forms the matrix of blood.
Bloods cells:
 There are two types of blood cells, viz. Red Blood Cells (RBCs) and White Blood Cells (WBCs).
Red Blood Corpuscles (RBCs):
 These are of red colour because of the presence of haemoglobin which is a pigment. Haemoglobin readily combines with oxygen and carbon
dioxide. The transport of oxygen happens through haemoglobin. Some part of carbon dioxide is also transported through haemoglobin.
White Blood Corpuscles (WBCs):
 These are of pale white colour. They play important role in the immunity.
Platelets:
 Platelets are responsible for blood coagulation. Blood coagulation is a defense mechanism which prevents excess loss of blood, in case of an
injury.
Lymph:
 Lymph is similar to blood but RBCs are absent in lymph.
 Lymph is formed from the fluid which leaks from blood capillaries and goes to the intercellular space in the tissues. This fluid is collected
through lymph vessels and finally return to the blood capillaries.
 Lymph also plays an important role in the immune system.
 Lymph a yellowish fluids escape from the blood capillaries into the intercellular spaces contain less proteins than blood.
 Lymph flows from the tissues to the heart assisting in transportation and destroying germs.
Double circulation:
 In the human heart, blood passes through the heart twice in one cardiac cycle. This type of circulation is called double circulation.
 One complete heartbeat in which all the chambers of the heart contract and relax once is called cardiac cycle.
 The heart beats about 72 times per minute in a normal adult. In one cardiac cycle, the heart pumps out 70 mL blood and thus, about 4900
mL blood in a minute.
 Double circulation ensures complete segregation of oxygenated and deoxygenated blood which is necessary for optimum energy production
in warm-blooded animals.
Transportation in plants:
 Plants have specialized vascular tissues for transportation of substances. There are two types of vascular tissues in plants.
Xylem:
 Xylem is responsible for transportation of water and minerals.
 It is composed of trachids, xylem vessels, xylem parenchyma and xylem fibre. Tracheids and xylem vessels are the conducting elements.
 The xylem makes a continuous tube in plants which runs from roots to stem and right up to the veins of leaves.
 Carry water and minerals from the leaves to the other part of the plant.
Phloem:
 Phloem is responsible for transportation of food.
 Phloem is composed of sieve tubes, companion cells, phloem parenchyma and bast fibers.
 Sieve tubes are the conducting elements in phloem.
 Carries product of photosynthesis from roots to other part of the plant.
Ascent of sap:
 The upward movement of water and minerals from roots to different plant parts is called ascent of sap. Many factors are at play in ascent of
sap and it takes place in many steps. They are explained as follows :
Steps and factors for Ascent of sap:
1. Root pressure:
The walls of cells of root hairs are very thin. Water from soil enters the root hairs because of osmosis. Root pressure is responsible for movement of water
up to the base of the stem.
2. Capillary action:
A very fine tube is called capillaiy, water, or any liquid, rises in the capillary because of physical forces and this phenomenon is called capillary action.
Water, in stem, rises up to some height because of capillaiy action.
3. Adhesion-cohesion of water molecules:
Water molecules make a continuous column in the xylem because of forces of adhesion and cohesion among the molecules.
4. Transpiration pull:
 Loss of water vapour through stomata and lenticels, in plants, is called transpiration. Transpiration through stomata creates vacuum which
creates a suction, called transpiration pull. The transpiration pull sucks the water column from the xylem tubes and thus, water is able to rise
 to great heights in even the tallest plants.

5. Transport of food:
 Transport of food in plants happens because of utilization of energy. Thus, unlike the transport through xylem, it is a form of active transport.
Moreover, the flow of substances through phloem takes place in both directions, i.e., it is a two-way traffic in phloem.
Transpiration
 is the process of loss of water as vapour from aerial parts of the plant.
Functions of Transpiration
 Absorption and upward movement of water and minerals by creating pull.
 Helps in temperature regulation in plant.
 Transport of food from leaves (food factory) to different parts of the plant is called Translocation.
Excretion
 Removal of harmful waste from the body is called excretion.
 Many wastes are produced during various metabolic activities.
 These need to be removed in time because their accumulation in the body can be harmful and even lethal for an organism.
Human Excretory System:
 The human excretory system is composed of a pair of kidneys.
 A tube, called ureter, comes out of each kidney and goes to the urinary bladder.
 Urine is collected in the urinary bladder, from where it is expelled out through urethra as and when required.
Kidney:
 Kidney is a bean-shaped organ which lies near the vertebral column in the abdominal cavity.
 The kidney is composed of many filtering units, called nephrons.
 Nephron is called the functional unit of kidney.
Nephron
 It is composed of a tangled mess of tubes and a filtering part, called glomerulus.
 The glomerulus is a network of blood capillaries to which renal artery is attached.
 The artery which takes blood to the glomerulus is called afferent arteriole and the one receiving blood from the glomerulus is called efferent
arteriole.
 The glomerulus is enclosed in a capsule like portion, called bowman’s capsule. The bowman’s capsule extends into a fine tube which is highly
coiled.
 Tubes from various nephrons converge into collecting duct, which finally goes to the ureter.
The urine formation involves three steps:
 Glomerular filtration: Nitrogenous wastes, glucose, water, amino acid filter from the blood into bowman’s capsule of the nephron.
 Tubular reabsorption: Now, useful substances from the filtrate are reabsorbed back by capillaries surrounding the nephron.
 Secretion: Extra water, salts are secreted into the tubule which opens up into the collecting duct and then into the ureter.