Biology - Function of blood

Blood (Tissue fluid):

–

• Transports dissolved gasses O2/Co2, waste products of metabolism, hormones, enzymes, nutrients, food, plasma, proteins, blood cells. 
• Maintains body To (distributes body heat) 
• Controls Ph (6.8-7.4) 
• Removes toxins from the body 
• Regulations of electrolytes 
• Protection – production of antibodies, clotting/prevention of loss of blood, phagocytises of foreign bodies

* Red blood cells don't have a nucleus


Here is a great site:  http://quinte55ence.edublogs.org/transport-in-mammals/1124-blood-components-and-function/

Also look at:
http://www.virtualmedicalcentre.com/anatomy.asp?sid=30&title=Blood-Function-and-Composition

http://www.pc.maricopa.edu/Biology/pfinkenstadt/BIO202/202LessonBuilder/Hematology/index.html

http://www.sumhit-referencement.com/?attachment_id=206

Biology - How are red blood cells and nerve cells adapted to their job?

3.How are red blood cells and nerve cells adapted to their job? 

The small size of the red blood cells plus the biconcave shape (concavities present on either side) provide a large surface area which makes them very efficient in absorbing oxygen.  The small size also enables the red blood cells to travel through very fine capillaries in the body where they have to travel in a single file.  Read more: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_are_red_blood_cells_adapted_to_their_jobs#ixzz1ckHLA6iY 

RBCs have to go everywhere in the body, including the tiny capillaries. They are designed specifically for this. They have a very thin center which allows them to bend to squeeze through these tiny blood vessels. This is where sickle cell anemia is become a problem. The cells are misshappen and can cause blockages. Also the membrane of these cells is designed to allow oxygen to easily diffuse through. http://au.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20071103092853AALcnMe

A nerve cell is really long and is the longest cell in our body. As it's so long it can stretch between different parts of our body. It is an elongated cell that transmits information between different parts of our body. Each nerve cell has a cell body, containing the nucleus, from which trail processes called dendrites, responsible for receiving incoming signals. The brain controls many nerve cells.  Read more: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_is_a_nerve_cell_adapted_for_its_function#ixzz1ckIP0lq5

 NERVE CELL

 
BLOOD CELL

There is a lot of good information on these two sites:  http://everydayscienceforall.blogspot.com

http://www.fi.edu/learn/heart/blood/red.html

Biology - Life Processes, Cells, Amoeba

I am working from a book called Science KS3 Classbook by Terry Hudson.  It includes Biology, Chemistry and Physics. 


This first topic in the book is similar to what I did last year:


MRS NERG - 7 Life processes


Movement
Respiration
Sensitivity to environment
Nutrition
Excretion
Reproduction
Growth


Animal and plant cell diagrams





Image source:  waynesword.palomar.edu, http://chemistrybook2011.blogspot.com/2011/05/plant-cell-figures.html





Image source: http://www.tutorvista.com/biology/function-of-animal-cell




Differences between these two types of cells.





Image source: http://www.tutorvista.com/biology/function-of-animal-cell




AMOEBA


To read about amoeba - have a look at this site:  http://www.biology-resources.com/amoeba-01.html


Then we looked at how an Amoeba would carry out each of the 7 life processes.

  

M- move by flowing of cytoplasm over the surface i.e mud, soil.      

   - pseudopods - changing the shape of their body.

R-"breathes" using a porous cell membrane (oxygen in - carbon dioxide out)

S-  no special sense organs.

  - changes in outside world detected by all parts of living material

  - limited sensitivity e.g. moves away from light, but it has no photodetectors or eyes

N- food is engulfed by pseudopods (False foot) - forms a food vacuole.    

   - eat algae, bacteria, other protozoans, tiny particles of dead plant / animal matter

E- ingestion and egestion can take place at any point on the surface

   - no ‘mouth’ or ‘anus’.

R- a parent cell divides (Nucleus + cytoplasm divide)

   = two smaller daughter cells i.e. asexually by binary fission

G- grows from nutrition - digesting food.

Other links:  

What is a cell http://library.thinkquest.org/5420/cellwhat.html  

(Oracle Think Quest - Projects by Students for Students)

Amoeba diagram  http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/protists/labelamoeba/labelanswers.shtml

Meaning of respire http://www.oum.ox.ac.uk/thezone/animals/life/respire.htm (Learning zone)

All about amoeba with photos http://www.fcps.edu/islandcreekes/ecology/amoeba.htm

Biology Teaching Resources  

http://www.biology-resources.com/amoeba-01.html  

Did you know?

Facts about the UK

The total land area is 244820km squared.

The UK has over 12000 miles of coastline.

There are 5000 rivers.

The highest point is Ben Nevis @ 1344m.

The lowest point = Fens @ -4m.

There are 874 miles between John o'Groats to Land's End.

and

Did you know that your body is made up of between 50 trillion and 100 trillion cells?


Ref:
The world of Geography (Revision) - Letts
The world of Science (Revision) - Letts

Starting "The Sciences": 7 Stages of Living and Parts of a Plant

Today, we started going through the Keystage 2 - Science book. Thanks so much Fran xxx

Its really interesting.

We did a quick look at the whole book to get an idea of what will be coming up. Then started at the beginning.

The 7 stages of living (animals and plants)

This is easy to remember, using a mnemonic of "Mrs Nerg".

Mrs Nerg stands for the first letter of each of the life processes that one needs to remember.

M - Movement (Plant roots grow down, animals move their whole bodies, )

R - Reproduce (Offspring in animals /seeds in plants)
S - Sensitive (Reacting to changes i.e. plants and light, dogs and food)
N - Nutrition (Food provides energy to grow).

Plants make their own food using the suns light

Animals eat plants and other animals
E - Excrete (get rid of waste gases, liquids and solids)
R - Respire (Breath - both plants and animals need gases to stay alive e.g. oxygen)
G - Grow (Seedlings grow into bigger plants and animal's offspring grow into adults).

The next page was about living/dead/never lived and cells and particles. The info on cells was easy as I looked at that yesterday a bit with my microscope ;) The questions page was easy peasy!

The next page was Section 2 - Plants.

There are 4 main parts to a plant:

1. Flowers - (reproduction)

Colour, Smell to attract insects.

Make pollen (male) to join with 'eggs' (female).

Part of flower dies and remainder becomes the new fruit/seeds.

2. Leaves - (Nutrition/food)

Green chlorophyll - photosynthesis (From the light)

3. Stem - (Support)

Hold, move the plant towards the light

4. Roots - (Anchor the plant)

Root hairs suck water and minerals from the soil (Nutrition)

I drew a diagram of a plant to help memorise all the parts.

Then we had a look at different flowers I picked in our garden and I used my new safety knife to slice them vertically for cross-section studies.

I also did a flower part 'story' on purplemash.com

Links

For parts of the plant and flower: http://www.purplemash.com/flowerparts/ ( you can build your own group of photos and descriptions to help you remember the parts of flowers).

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/ks2bitesize/science/ - there is a cool game on here that you have to work out how to get your questions by clicking of things in the picture, in the right order and then answering the questions on english, maths, science etc. Its fun with cute drawings.

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Its very frustrating that we did not do this sort of work at school during the past 2 years! I am so pleased I am now home schooling.

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Yesterday my little sister came home from school and told us that they did not do any school work on the first day back at school and I felt happy that I had learned a lot at home school! Swimming as part of PE at school has also been stopped due to budget cuts.

Luckily our family went swimming last night as part of our gym membership and we had a bit of fun as well as practicing our swimming. As we do watersports like sailing and kayaking its really important that we can swim a distance if we need to.

My little sister was really good and started swimming backstroke from watching us. She used a board to swim to the deep-end and back a couple of times which is good for her stamina. Not bad for her age! So at least we get swimming even though other kids don't. Quite a few kids go to the fun sessions at the pool outside of school but they dont practice their style or stamina, just fool about on pool toys which is fun but does not help if you are out sailing or kayaking and need to swim to shore !