Movement

Objective: Distinguish between growth movements in plants and movement in animals.

- Movement is the process by which organisms change the position of part of their bodies in response to
an external stimulus.
- Example: slow and irreversible growth movements in plants of shoots towards the light or roots
downwards towards water.

Objective: Relate the structure of the skeleton to its function in humans.

TABLE 1: FUNCTIONS OF THE HUMAN SKELETON
Protection - of some soft-tissue organs
- skulls protects brain, inner ears,
eyes
- ribcage protects heart and lungs
Support - by a rigid framework of bones which
maintains body shape
- limbs which keeps the body off the
ground
Movement/ - occurs when muscles contract
Locomotion - bones provide points of attachment
for muscles, and act as levers
- joints acts as pivots
Blood - produced in the red bone marrow
formation
Breathing - the rib cage movements
increase/decrease the volume of the
chest cavity during
inhalation/exhalation.

Figure 1: The Human Skeleton

Objective: Discuss the importance of locomotion in animals.

- Locomotion is the process by which organisms move their entire bodies from one place to the another
- Locomotion is important in animals to:
1. Find food; plants do not need to move around to find food because they make their own food.
2. Find a mate; plants do not need to find a mate. They produce pollen grains which become dispersed to
other plants to produce new offspring (advantageous since it reduces competition in the same area).
3. Escape predators.
4. Finding more favourable environments e.g. earthworms move towards moisture, some birds migrate to
warmers places during winter.

Objective: Describe the mechanism of movement in a human fore

limb.
- Bones are rigid structures made up of mainly calcium phosphate and
collagen.
- Muscles are bundles of fibrous tissue that have the ability to
contract.
- The relationship between the bones and muscles of a limb: muscles
are attached to bones, when they contract the cause the bone to move
towards the direction they contract. Figure 2: Long Bone
- Muscles can only contract (get shorter); muscles cannot lengthen Structure

(get longer, relax). Muscles  work in pairs, called antagonistic pairs

1
(as one muscle is contracting, the other muscle is relaxing) e.g. biceps and triceps in the arms, quadriceps
and hamstrings in leg.
- Raising of lower arm (flexion) occurs when the biceps contract (a.k.a. flexor muscle which brings bones
closer together) and triceps relax.
- Extending of lower arm (extension) occurs
when the triceps contract (a.k.a. extensor
muscle which straightens the joint) and
biceps relax.
- The place where the muscle is attached to
the stationary bone is called the point of
origin.
- The place where the muscle is attached to
the moving bone is called the point of
insertion.
- When a muscle contracts, the insertion
Figure 3: Movement of Fore limb
moves towards the origin.

- A joint is the place where two bones meet e.g. fixed joints, movable joints.
- Fixed joints are formed where bones are not meant to move e.g. cranium, pelvic girdle, vertebral column.
- Moveable joints are formed where bones can move e.g. hinge joint, ball and socket joint.
- Hinge joints only allow the bones to move in one plane, like a door on hinges e.g. elbow and knee joints.
- Ball and socket joints allow the bones to move in many different directions e.g. shoulder and hip joints.

Figure 5: Ball and Socket Joint

Figure 4: Hinge Joint

- Structures which help joints to function include:

- Cartilage is a smooth flexible collagen layer which covers bones to reduce the friction between them.
- Tendons are strong inflexible cords which attach muscles to bones. When a muscle contracts, it
transmits the force of the muscle onto the bone, causing it to move.
- Ligaments are strong, slightly stretchy cords which attach bone to bone at a joint. Ligaments have to be
slightly stretchy, so that the bones it is connecting, can move.
- Synovial fluid is an oily substance found between bones to reduce friction.

Figure 6: Joint Structure Figure 7: Elbow joint as a Third

Class Level