Life processes

Living organisms can reproduce

Living organisms have certain life processes in common. There are seven things that they need to do to
count as being alive. The phrase MRS GREN is one way to remember them:

 Movement - all living things move, even plants

 Respiration - getting energy from food
 Sensitivity - detecting changes in the surroundings
 Growth - all living things grow
 Reproduction - making more living things of the same type
 Excretion - getting rid of waste
 Nutrition - taking in and using food

It can be easy to tell if something is living or not. A teddy bear might look like a bear, but it cannot do any
of the seven things it needs to be able to do to count as being alive.

A car can move, it gets energy from petrol (like nutrition and respiration), it might have a car alarm
(sensitivity), and it gets rid of waste gases through its exhaust pipe (excretion). But it cannot grow or make
baby cars. So a car is not alive.

Cells
Cells are the basic building blocks of all animals and plants. They are so small, you need to use a light
microscope to see them.

The light microscope

 A modern microscope with two eyepiece lenses

A light microscope uses a series of lenses to produce a magnified image of an object:

1. the object is placed on a rectangular glass slide

2. the slide is placed on a stage with a light source below
3. light shines through the object and into the objective lens
4. the light passes through the eyepiece lens and from there into your eye

You can focus the image using one or more focusing knobs. It is safest to focus by using the knobs to
move the stage downwards, rather than upwards. There is a chance of the objective lens and slide
colliding if you focus upwards.

Microscopes often have three or four objective lenses on a turret that you can turn. It is wise to observe
an object using the lowest magnification lens first. You may need to adjust the focus and the amount of
light as you move to higher magnifications.

Plant cells seen through a light microscope

Making a slide

Onion cells are easy to see using a light microscope. Here is a typical method for preparing a slide of
onion cells:

1. cut open an onion

2. use forceps to peel a thin layer from the inside
3. spread out the layer on a microscope slide
4. add a drop of iodine solution to the layer
5. carefully place a cover slip over the layer

Stains like iodine make features such as the nucleus easier to see
Observing cells

When you observe cells, it is usual to make a drawing of what you see. Very often there is so much to see
that you can only aim to draw part of it:

 use pencil rather than pen or colours

 outline the features as accurately as you can
 use as little shading as possible
 label your drawing with the name of the sample and the total magnification you used
Cheek cells stained with methylene blue
Total magnification

The magnification of each lens is shown next to the lens:

total magnification = eyepiece lens magnification × objective lens magnification

For example, if the eyepiece magnification is ×10 and the objective lens magnification is ×40:

total magnification = 10 x 40 = ×400 (400 times)

Animal cells and plant cells

Animal cells usually have an irregular shape, and plant cells usually have a regular shape. Cells are made
up of different parts.

It is easier to describe these parts by using diagrams:

 Animal cells
and plant cells also contain tiny objects called mitochondria in their cytoplasm
Animal cells and plant cells both contain:

 cell membrane
 cytoplasm
 nucleus
 mitochondria

Plant cells also contain these parts, which are not found in animal cells:

 cell wall
 vacuole
 chloroplasts

The table summarises the functions of these parts:

Part Function Found in

Cell Plant and animal

Controls the movement of substances into and out of the cell
membrane cells

Plant and animal

Cytoplasm Jelly-like substance, where chemical reactions happen
cells

Carries genetic information and controls what happens inside the Plant and animal
Nucleus
cell cells

Plant and animal

Mitochondria Where most respiration reactions happen
cells
 Part Function Found in

Vacuole Contains a liquid called cell sap, which keeps the cell firm Plant cells only

Made of a tough substance called cellulose, which supports the

Cell wall Plant cells only
cell

Cells and their functions

Humans are multicellular. That means we are made of lots of cells, not just one cell. The cells in many
multicellular animals and plants are specialised, so that they can share out the processes of life. They
work together like a team to support the different processes in an organism.

Specialised cells

The diagrams show examples of some specialised animal cells. Notice that they look very different from
one another.

A selection of
specialised animal cells
The tables show examples of some specialised animal and plant cells, with their functions and special
features:
The skeleton

Our skeleton is made of more than 200 bones. Calcium and other minerals make the bone strong but slightly flexible.
Bone is a living tissue with a blood supply. It is constantly being dissolved and formed, and it can repair itself if a bone is
broken.
Function of the skeleton

The skeleton has four main functions:

 to support the body

 to protect some of the vital organs of the body

 to help the body move

 to make blood cells

Support

The skeleton supports the body. For example, without a backbone we would
not be able to stay upright.

Protection

Here are some examples of what the skeleton protects:

 the skull protects the brain

 the ribcage protects the heart and lungs

 the backbone protects the spinal cord

An X-ray image of the chest. The ribs form a cage-like structure that protects the
organs inside.

Movement

Some bones in the skeleton are joined rigidly together and cannot move against each other. Bones in the skull are joined
like this. Other bones are joined to each other by flexible joints. Muscles are needed to move bones attached by joints.

Making blood cells

There are different kinds of blood cells, including:

 red blood cells, which carry oxygen around the body in the blood

 white blood cells, which are involved in destroying harmful

microorganisms in your body

These cells are made in the bone marrow. This is soft tissue inside our larger bones
which is protected by the hard part of the bone which surrounds it.

Joints

Bones are linked together by joints. Most joints allow different parts of the skeleton to move. The human skeleton has
joints called synovial joints.
The synovial joint

If two bones just moved against each other, they would eventually wear away. This can
happen in people who have a condition called arthritis. To stop this happening, the ends of
the bones in a joint are covered with a tough, smooth substance called cartilage. This is kept
slippery by a liquid called synovial fluid. Tough ligaments join the two bones in the joint and
stop the joint falling apart.

Movement

Different types of synovial joint allow different types of movement. The table describes two types of joint:

Type of joint Examples Movement allowed

Hinge joint Knee, elbow The same as opening and closing a door, with no rotation (turning)

Ball and socket Hip, shoulder Back and forth in all directions, and rotation

The bones cannot move on their own - they need muscles for this to happen.

Muscles

Muscles work by getting shorter. We say that they contract, and the process is called contraction. Muscles are attached
to bones by strong tendons. When a muscle contracts, it pulls on the bone, and the bone can move if it is part of a joint.

Antagonistic muscles

Muscles can only pull and cannot push. This would be a problem if a joint were controlled by just one muscle. As soon as
the muscle had contracted and pulled on a bone, that would be it, with no way to move the bone back again. This
problem is solved by having muscles in pairs, called antagonistic muscles.

For example, your elbow joint has two muscles that move your forearm up or down. These are the biceps on the front of
the upper arm and the triceps on the back of the upper arm:

 to raise the forearm, the biceps contracts and the triceps relaxes

 to lower the forearm again, the triceps contracts and the biceps relaxes

Antagonistic pairs

Muscles work in antagonistic pairs. This ensures that when a part of the body is moved, it can move back to its original
position. Examples are:

 the biceps and triceps in the arm

 the quadriceps and hamstrings in the leg

The biceps contracts and raises the forearm as the triceps relaxes

Muscles exert a force on bones when they contract. This happens for example when you lift or hold an object, or when
you move a part of your body. If you hold an object weighing 10 N, keeping it still and with your forearm horizontal and
your upper arm vertical, you would be exerting an upwards force of 10 N on the object. You could work out the force
exerted by the biceps muscle to do this using the idea of moments. For more on moments see Physics - Forces -
Moments. The way in which muscles and bones work together to exert forces is called biomechanics.

Unicellular organisms

A unicellular organism is a living thing that is just one cell. There are different types of unicellular organism, including:

 bacteria

 protozoa

 unicellular fungi

You might be tempted to think that these organisms are very simple, but in fact they can be very complex. They have
adaptations that make them very well suited for life in their environment.

Bacteria

Bacteria are tiny. A typical bacterial cell is just a few micrometres across (a few thousandths of a
millimetre). The structure of a bacterial cell is different to an animal or plant cell. For example, they
do not have a nucleus but they may have a flagellum. This is a tail-like part of the cell that can spin,
moving the cell along.

Protozoa

Protozoa are unicellular organisms that live in water or in damp places. The amoeba is an example
of one. Although it is just one cell, it has adaptations that let it behave a bit like an animal:

 it produces pseudopodia (“false feet”) that let it move about

 its pseudopodia can surround food and take it inside the cell

 contractile vacuoles appear inside the cell, then merge with the surface to remove
waste

Yeast

You may be familiar with fungi from seeing mushrooms and toadstools. Yeast are unicellular fungi. They are used by
brewers and wine-makers because they convert sugar into alcohol, and by bakers because they can produce carbon
dioxide to make bread to rise.

Yeast have a cell wall, like plant cells, but no chloroplasts. This means they have to absorb sugars for
their nutrition, rather than being able to make their own food by photosynthesis

Yeast can reproduce by producing a bud. The bud grows until it is large enough to split from the
parent cell as a new yeast cell.

Cells, tissues, organs and systems

Multicellular organisms are organised into increasingly complex parts. In order, from least complex to most complex:

 cells

 tissues

 organs

 organ systems
  organism

Tissues

Animal cells and plant cells can form tissues, such as muscle tissue in animals. A living tissue is made from a group of
cells with a similar structure and function, which all work together to do a particular job. Here are some examples of
tissues:

 muscle

 the lining of the intestine

 the lining of the lungs

 xylem (tubes that carry water in a plant)

Organs

An organ is made from a group of different tissues, which all work together to do a particular job. Here are some
examples of organs:

 heart

 lung

 stomach

 brain

 leaf

 root

Organ systems

An organ system is made from a group of different organs, which all work together to do a particular job. Here are some
examples of organ systems:

 circulatory system

 respiratory system

 digestive system

 nervous system

 reproductive system

Stem cells

There are two types of stem cells:

 adult stem cells - these are unspecialised cells that can develop into many (but not all) types of cells
 embryonic stem cells - these are unspecialised cells that can develop into any type of cell.
During the development of an embryo, most of the cells become specialised (cells with modifications to structure according to the
task they have to perform). They cannot later change to become a different type of cell.
 But embryos contain a special type of cell called stem cells. These embryonic stem cells can grow into any type of cell found in the
body so they are not specialised. Stem cells can be removed from human embryos that are a few days old, for example, from unused
embryos left over from fertility treatment.

Here are some of the things stem cells could be used for:

 making new brain cells to treat people with Parkinson’s disease

 rebuilding bones and cartilage
 repairing damaged immune systems
 making replacement heart valves.

Examples of diffusion in living organisms

Products of digestion, dissolved in water, can pass across the wall of the small intestine by diffusion. Their concentration
is higher in the small intestine than their concentration in the blood, so there is a concentration gradient from the
intestine to the blood.

Oxygen and carbon dioxide, dissolved in water, are exchanged by diffusion in the lungs:

 oxygen moves down a concentration gradient from the air in the alveoli to the blood

 carbon dioxide moves down a concentration gradient from the blood to the air in the
alveoli

The dissolved substances will only continue to diffuse while there is a concentration gradient.

Osmosis

Osmosis is the diffusion of water molecules, from a region of higher concentration to a region of lower concentration,
through a partially permeable membrane. A dilute solution contains a high concentration of water molecules, while a
concentrated solution contains a low concentration of water molecules.

Partially permeable membranes are also called selectively permeable membranes or semi-permeable membranes.
They let some substances pass through them, but not others.

Osmosis in cells

The results of osmosis are different in plant and animal cells.

Plant cells

Plant cells have a strong cellulose cell wall on the outside of the cell membrane. This supports the cell and stops it
bursting when it gains water by osmosis.

A plant cell in a dilute solution (higher water potential than the cell contents)

Water enters the cell by osmosis. The cytoplasm pushes against the cell wall and the cell
becomes turgid.

A plant cell in a concentrated solution (lower water potential than the cell contents)

Water leaves the cell by osmosis. The cytoplasm pulls away from the cell wall (plasmolysis) and
the cell becomes flaccid and the plant wilts.
Turgid plant cells play an important part in supporting the plant.

Animal cells

Animal cells do not have a cell wall. They change size and shape when put into solutions that are at a different
concentration to the cell contents.

For example, red blood cells:

 gain water, swell and burst in a more dilute solution (this is called haemolysis)

 lose water and shrink in a more concentrated solution (they become crenated or wrinkled)

These things do not happen inside the body. Osmoregulation involving the kidneys ensures that the concentration of
the blood stays about the same as the concentration of the cell contents.