Excretory System

Excretion is a process by which wastes are removed from your body. These wastes include excess water, carbon dioxide, excess salts, nitrogenous compounds and undigested food. To keep your body alive, it has to certain things. As the different systems of the body perform their functions, they also produce wastes. Your body needs food and oxygen to produce energy. In this process of producing energy, waste products are produced by the body. emoving waste from your body is the

function of one of your body systems, the excretory system.

Parts of the Excretory Systems

The Lungs

!hen the body carries oxygen to the cells, the oxygen combines with carbon in the digested food inside the cells to produce energy. This process is called metabolism or cell respiration. "etabolism produces wastes and these have to be removed from the cells. These include carbon dioxide, heat, nitrogenous wastes or urea, uric acid, salts and water. These wastes are carried away by the blood from the body cells. As the blood goes back to the heart and then to the lungs, the carbon dioxide and waste water are removed before the blood goes back to the heart to be pumped to other parts of the body. #uring exhalation, carbon dioxide and moisture are excreted by the lungs.

The Large Intestine

ecall what the digestive system does to the food that you eat. $ot all of these foods are digested and absorbed by your body. The undigested food is passed into the% &A 'E I$TE(TI$E% for temporary storage. The undigested food contains lots of water, and dissolved minerals like iron, calcium, and magnesium. (ome of the water and the dissolved minerals are absorbed by the walls of the large intestine and returned to your body through the blood circulation. The remaining solid waste after absorption is called%)E*E(%.

)eces contain bacteria, undigested food, bile and the remaining water and minerals. These feces are discharged by the large intestine through your rectums. It then leaves your body through the anus when you make your +,-!E&(%.

The Skin

The skin also removes the metabolic wastes. )rom the body cells, water, urea, heat and salts move through the blood vessels into the skin. These waste products then move out of the blood vessels through the capillaries into the sweat glands. The skin excretes water, urea and salt through the sweat glands. Each sweat gland has a sweat tube that leads to a small opening in the skin.s surface called pore. This is where water and salt pass out of the skin. These wastes are collectively called sweat or perspiration. The waste water in the sweat evaporates and the salts stay on the skin surface. The blood vessels help the skin remove the skin excess heat from your body. !hen you feel hot, the blood vessels in the skin dilate. "ore blood is then brought near the surface of the skin to release the heat into the surroundings.

!hen you feel cold, the opposite happens. The blood vessels in the skin narrow to move the blood away from the skin and surface heat is them conserve in the body.

The Urogenital System

The kidneys are the ma/or organs of excretory. These are two bean0shaped kidneys found on each side of the spinal column in line with your elbows. The main function of the kidneys is to filter unwanted materials from the body. Each kidney is composed of about a million nephrons. A nephron is the filtering unit of the kidney. All the blood in the body passes through the kidneys about 12 times every hour. The blood which carries waste materials and other substances enter the kidneys through an artery. The kidney filters the blood from unwanted substances. The substances that are still useful for the body are brought back into

circulation. Together with the clean blood, they leave kidneys through a vein. The waste materials left in the kidneys after filtration are called urine. It is made up of metabolic wastes such as excess water, excess salts and nitrogenous compounds or urea and uric acid. The urine leaves the kidneys through the ureters are the tubes attached to each kidney that lead to the urinary bladder. !hen the urinary bladder is full, it contracts and urine moves out of the bladder through the urethra and passes out of the body.