Topic 8 Flashcards
what must all organisms do?
take in substances that they need from the environment and get remove any waste products
why do cells need oxygen?
for aerobic respiration which produces carbon dioxide as a waste product
how do oxygen and carbon dioxide move between cells and the environment?
by diffusion
how is water taken up by cells?
by osmosis
what substances diffuse with water in animals?
food molecules (the products of digestion) and mineral ions
what are some examples of food molecules which diffuse with water in animal cells?
glucose and amino acids
what are three substances which organisms exchange with the environment?
oxygen, water and urea
where does urea diffuse from cells to? and why?
urea diffuses from cells to the blood plasma for removal from the body by the kidneys
what does an organism’s ease to exchange substances with its environment depend on?
the organism’s surface area to volume ratio (SA:V)
what does a ratio show?
how large one value is compared to another
how does an organism’s SA:V vary with the size of the organism?
the larger an organism is, the smaller its surface area is compared to its volume
what is the equation for the area of a surface?
length x width
what is the equation for a volume of a block?
length x width x height
in single-celled/ unicellular organisms, how do substances diffuse into/ out of the cell?
the gases and dissolved substances can diffuse directly into/ out of the cell across the cell membrane because the cells have a large surface area compared to their volume, so enough substances can be exchanged across the membrane to supply the volume of the cell
how do multicellular organisms diffuse/ exchange substances to supply to the volume of the organism?
multicellular organisms need exchange surfaces for efficient diffusion and a mass transport system to move substances between the exchange surface and the rest of the body. this is because multicellular organisms have a smaller surface area compared do to their volume which makes it difficult to exchange substances to supply to their entire volume across their outside surface alone.
what are alveoli?
an exchange surface found in the lungs of mammals which are well-adapted for the efficient exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide. they are in the form of small “air sacs”
how are gases exchanged in the lungs?
by diffusion
what three factors affect the rate of diffusion of any substance?
- distance
- concentration difference / concentration gradient
- surface area
how can distance affect the rate of diffusion?
substances diffuse faster when the substances don’t have to move as far
how can concentration gradient affect the rate of diffusion?
substances diffuse faster if there’s a large difference in concentration between the area the substances are diffusing from and the area the substances are diffusing to. this is because there is a greater concentration of particles to move from one side of the membrane to the other.
how can surface area affect the rate of diffusion?
the greater the surface area, the more surface there is available for the molecules to move across so the faster the molecules can travel from one side to the other.
what is the function of the lungs?
to transfer oxygen to the blood and to remove waste carbon dioxide from the blood
where does gas exchange happen in mammals?
in the lungs, in the alveoli
what is the singular form of “alveoli”?
alveolus