Transportation

➢ Transportation is another life process which helps living beings to survive.

➢ Multicellular organisms need materials to be transported to and from individual cells,
present in every part of the organism
➢ All cells require a transport system as they need oxygen ,water and food to survive.
➢ All these substances are picked up at one part of the body and then transported to all
parts of an organism. I complete system of organs involved for this process . This
system is called circulatory system in animals.
➢ The transporting system or circulatory system is composed of:-
1. Blood
2. The heart
3. Blood vessels

Question1. What is the composition and functions of blood ?

Answer. Blood is a liquid connective tissue

It consists of Plasma

Three types of cells suspended in plasma

• Plasma:- It is fluid matrix of blood in which cells are suspended.

• It is straw coloured which contain 90% of water
• Remaining 10% is different types of minerals
▪ Na+Cl-
▪ K+, HCO3-
▪ Ca++,Mg++
• There are also some proteins found in the plasma.
• These proteins are exclusively found only inside the plasma and are known
as plasma proteins
1. Albumin:- Albumin has capacity of holding on to 8 molecules . it
maintains viscosity of the blood. When we sweat the water comes
from the plasma of what the albumin does is provide water to
plasma.
2. Globulin helps give us immunity
3. Fibrinogen helps in coagulation of blood

Functions of Plasma :- It transports food, carbon do oxide and nitrogenous wastes in

dissolved form.

1. Cells:- Known as formed elements, formed somewhere else but later come in the
blood
1. Red Blood Cells :- Erythrocytes, they are small, circular,biconcave discs
without nucleus
RBCs Contain red pigment haemoglobin which contains iron
 Haemoglobin in R.B.C’s carry oxygen from lungs to tissues.

2. White Blood Cells:- Leukocytes. They are colourless cells containing nuclei
They are amoeboid in shape

WBC’s protect the body from various infections by the process of

phagocytosis
3. Blood Platelets:- Thrombocytes, they are large cells called megakaryocytes
formed from large cells called megakaryocytes of bone marrow.
They help in coagulation of blood

Functions of Blood :-

1. Transports respiratory gases O2 and CO2.

2. Transports nutrients
3. Carries hormones
4. Gives us immunity
5. Transports water
6. Helps in coagulation of blood
7. Regulates the body temperature and keeps it constant at 370 C.

Question 2. Describe the structure of heart and its working .

Answer.

• The human heart is a muscular organ located in the rib cage between the lungs.
• It is the main pumping organ which is as big as our fist
• The heart is enclosed in tough double lined membrane called pericardium
• .The heart has 4 chambers – Two upper chambers called atria. Atria are thin walled.
Two lower chambers called ventricles. Ventricles are thick walled. Ventricles have
thick walls as they have to pump blood into various organs.
• The right and left parts are separated by a septum to prevent oxygenated and
deoxygenated blood from mixing
• The left auricle is continuous with left ventricle, by an aperture called left
auriculoventricular aperture. This aperture is guarded by a valve called bicuspid or
mitral valve
• The aperture between right auricle and right ventricle is called right
auriculoventricular aperture. This aperture is guarded by a tricuspid valve
• These valves prevent the backflow of the blood from ventricles to atria when they
contract.
 Working of Heart (circulation of heart)

Circulation of Blood through the heart:

Systemic Vein → Sinus Venosus → Right Auricle → Right Ventricle → Pulmonary

Artery →
Lungs → Pulmonary Vein → Left Auricle → Left Ventricle → Trunchus Arteriosus →
Systemic Circulation

• In the beginning ,both atria and ventricles are in the relaxed state
• Oxygen- rich blood from the lungs comes to thin walled upper chamber of the heart i.e., the left
atrium
• The left atrium relaxes when it receives blood.
• It (left atrium ) contracts, the blood (oxygenated ) is pumped through aorta (largest artery) to
the body.
• De- oxygenated blood comes from the body to the right atrium, as it expands
• As the right atrium contract, the right ventricle dilates. This transfers blood to the right ventricle
• When, the right ventricle contracts, the blood ( de-oxygenated) is pumped through pulmonary
artery to the lungs for oxygenation.
• Since , blood goes through the heart twice during each cycle in humans, the circulation is called
double circulation.

Question 3: What are the components of the transport system in human beings?
What are the functions of these components?

Answer : The main components of the transport system in human beings are the
heart, blood, and blood vessels.
• Heart pumps oxygenated blood throughout the body. It receives deoxygenated
blood from the various body parts and sends this impure blood to the lungs for
oxygenation.

• Being a fluid connective tissue, blood helps in the transport of oxygen, nutrients,
CO2, and nitrogenous wastes.

• The blood vessels (arteries, veins, and capillaries) carry blood either away from
the heart to various organs or from various organs back to the heart.

Question 4: Why is it necessary to separate oxygenated and deoxygenated

blood in mammals and birds?
Answer :
Warm-blooded animals such as birds and mammals maintain a constant body
temperature by cooling themselves when they are in a hotter environment and
by warming their bodies when they are in a cooler environment. Hence, these
animals require more oxygen (O2) for more cellular respiration so that they can
produce more energy to maintain their body temperature.
Thus, it is necessary for them to separate oxygenated and de-oxygenated blood,
so that their circulatory system is more efficient and can maintain their constant
body temperature.

Blood Vessels
• In our body , blood is transported from the heart to various body organs and then
back to the heart.
• This transportation takes place by 3 different sized blood vessels
• The three types of blood vessels are
i. Arteries
ii. Veins
iii. Capillaries
Question4. Difference between arteries, Veins and capillaries

Answer.

Arteries Veins Capillaries

Take blood away from the Take blood to the heart Blood flows from arterioles
heart to venules
Thick walled with small Thin walled with large lumen Extremely thin-walled with
lumen very narrow lumen
Do not have valves Possess valves No valves
Blood moves under high Blood flows with low Pressure falls, blood flows
pressure and with jerks pressure and smoothly smoothly
Carry oxygenated blood Carry deoxygenated blood Blood changes from
from heart to all body from all parts of the body to oxygenated oxygenated to
organs,except the the heart, except pulmonary deoxygenated
pulmonary artery vein
Question. 5 What is the role of platelets ?
Answer.
• Whenever we are injured , we start bleeding.
• This loss of blood has to be minimized or stop
• Leakage would lead to loss of pressure which would reduce the efficiency of the blood
pumping system
• To avoid this, the blood has platelets which circulate around the body and plug these
leaks by helping to clot the blood at the points of injury.

Question6.What is Lymph?

Answer.

• Lymph is another type of circulatory fluid in our body.

• It is also called tissue fluid or extracellular fluid
• When blood enters the capillaries from arterioles, it is under high pressure. Since walls of
cappilaries are very thin and due to high pressure , some amount of plasma, proteins and
blood cells escape into intercellular spaces in the tissues to form tissue fluid or lymph.
• It is similar to plasma of blood but colour less and contain less proteins.
• Lymph drains into lymphatic capillaries from the intercellular spaces which join to form large
lymph vessels that finally open into larger veins.
Functions of Lymph

➢ It carries digested and absorbed fat from intestine

➢ It drains excess fluid from extracellular space back into the blood.

Question6. Differences between blood and lymph

Answer.
Blood Lymph
It is red in colour due to presence of It is colourless with no haemoglobin and
 haemoglobin R.B.C’s
It contains many plasma proteins It contains less plasma proteins
It flows from the heart to tissues and tissues It flows from tissues to heart
to heart
It consisits of plasma, RBC’s, WBC’s and It consists of plasma and only one type of
platelets cells (WBC’s)

TRANSPORTATION IN PLANTS

• The energy requirements of plants are low ,as they do not move.
• Plants also have large number of dead cells in them. Because of these 2 reasons
plants can use relatively slow transport systems .
Transportation in Plants
1) The xylem moves water and minerals obtained by roots from the soil.
2) The phloem transports products of photosynthesis in organic food from the
leaves where they are synthesized to other parts of the plant.

Transport of water and minerals in plants

• The Xylem tissue consists of vessels and tracheids

• The vessels and tracheids of roots,stems and leaves are interconnected to
form a continuous system of water –conducting channels reaching all
parts of the plant.

ABSORPTION OF WATER AND MINERALS:-

• At roots, cells in contact with the soil actively take up ions.
• This creates a difference in the concentration of ions between the root and
the soil.
• Water ,therefore moves into the the root and the soil to remove this
difference.
• So ,there is steady movement of water in the root system, creating a
column of water that is steadily pushed upwards.
TRANSPORTATION OF WATER AND MINERALS:-
• This pressure is not enough to move water over the heights i.e., in tall
trees.
• Plant roots continuously absorb water, but the requirement is less.
• So, a lot of water is lost through the stomata.
• The water lost through stomata is replaced by water from the xylem
vessels in the leaf.
• This continuous loss of water from the cells of a leaf creates a suction
which pulls water from the xylem cells of roots and provides an upward
movement of water and minerals.
• At night, the transport of water is due to root pressure
 • During the day, the transpiration is the major driving force in the
movement of water in the xylem as stomata are open
• TRANSPIRATION
The process of loss of water in the form of water vapour from the aerial
parts of the plant is known as transpiration.
Importance of Transpiration
• It helps in absorption and upward movement of water and minerals
dissolved in it from roots to the leaves
• It also helps in temperature regulation.

Transport of food and other substances in plants

• The products of metabolic processes particularly photosynthesis ( food and other

metabolites) are transported from the leaves, where they are formed, to other
parts of the plant in soluble form.
• The process of transport of soluble products of photosynthesis from leaves to
various parts of the plant through phloem is called Translocation.
• Besides the products of photosynthesis i.e., food, the phloem also transports
amino acids and other substances
• These substances are transported to the storage organs of root, fruit, seeds and
to growing organs.
• The translocation of food and other substancestakes place in the sieve tubes with
help of adjacent companion cells.
• The translocation through phloem is bidirectional.
• Translocation through phloem utilizes energy
Steps in translocation of food through phloem
• Photosynthesis i.e., manufacture of food occurs in the leaves.
• The product of photosynthesis like sucrose is transferred into phloem tissue by
using energy from ATP molecules
• Because of this osmotic pressure of the phloem tissue increases.
• As a result of this water from the xylem enters sieve tubes.
• Entry in the sieve tubes develops pressure that pushes the materials to tissues
which have less pressure
• This allows the phloem to move materials according to the need. For eg.,-In the
spring, sugar stored in root or stem tissue would be transported to the buds
which need energy to grow.

Transport of materials in xylem Transport of materials in phloem

Water and minerals are transported in Product of photosynthesis i.e. food

xylem and amino acids and other substances
are transported in phloem
Transport of water and minerals is Transport of material is bidirectional
unidirectional i.e., only in the upward ie upward and downward
 direction
Transport in xylem does not utilize Transport in phloem is achieved by
energy utilizing energy

Activity:- To demonstrate the process of transpiration in plants

• Take 2 small pots of the same size having the same amount of soil
• Fix a plant in one pot.
• Place a stick of the same height as the plant in the other pot
• Cover the soil in both pots with a plastic sheet.
• Keep both of them in bright sunlight for about half an hour
• Observe the difference in soil in the two pots
Observation:-
We will observe that the soil of the first pot ( having plant) has less moisture as H2O has
been lost by transpiration. While the other soil will be as wet as no transpiration occur.
Water droplets will be observed in the plastic sheet covering the plant. No such drops will be
visible in the pot with stick.