MICROORGANISMS : FRIEND AND FOE - S CHAND HOPS CLASS

Very Short Answer Questions

1. What does yeast produce during respiration?
Answer:Yeast produces carbon dioxide gas during respiration.

2.What are pathogens? Write another name of pathogens.

Answer: Disease-causing microorganisms are known as pathogens. They are also called germs.

3. Write the names of any two antibiotics.

Answer: Streptomycin , Erythromycin

4.Who discovered the vaccine for small pox?

Answer: Edward Jenner.

5.What is fermentation?
Answer: Fermentation is the process of conversion of food into alcohol.

6.Define refrigeration.
Answer: The storing of food products at the temperature of 0°C to 5°C is known as refrigeration.
7. What is vaccine?
Answer:A substance which is used in the production of immunity against various diseases in the living
body is termed as vaccine.

8.Name any three common plant diseases.

Answer: Rust of wheat, citrus canker and wilt

9. Name a disease caused by food poisoning.

Answer: Botulism

10. What is the difference between refrigeration and freezing?

Answer: In refrigeration, the storing of the food is done at a temperature of 0°C to 5°C, whereas freezing
is used to store food at -18°C of temperature.

Short Answer Questions

 1.Classify bacteria on the basis of their shapes.
Answer: On the basis of their shapes, bacteria are classified into four categories:

● rod-shaped bacteria (bacilli)

● spherical-shaped bacteria (cocci)
● curved-shaped bacteria (vibrios)
● spiral-shaped bacteria (spirilla)
2. Define communicable diseases. Give some examples.
Answer:Communicable diseases are microbial diseases that can spread from an infected person to a
healthy person through air, water, or other physical contacts; e.g., cholera, chicken pox, tuberculosis,
common cold, etc.
Question 5.What do you mean by food spoilage?
Answer:The process in which food is deteriorated to such extent that it does not remain fit for human
consumption is known as food spoilage.

3.What role does sugar play in the preservation of food?

Answer:The role of sugar in food preservation is significant. By adding sugar in the food item, we reduce
its moisture content and hence, it stops the growth of the microorganisms.

4.What do you mean by immunity?

Answer:Immunity is the ability of a body to develop resistance against diseases.

5.What are antibodies?

Answer:Whenever any harmful disease-causing microorganism enters the human body, the body
produces substances to fight with the entered microbe. These substances are called antibodies.

6.What is the role of bacteria in increasing the soil fertility?

Answer:Some bacteria, which are present in the root nodules of leguminous plants or free-living fix the
atmospheric nitrogen in the soil which is ultimately used up by the plants. Hence they increase the
fertility of the soil. For example, Rhizobium, Azotobacter, Azospirillum, etc.
7.What is sterilisation?Answer:The process of killing all the microorganisms above the temperature of
100°C is known as sterilisation. It is one of the widely used methods to preserve food, and is often used
for various food items.

8.What is pasteurisation?
Answer:Pasteurisation can be defined as the partial sterilisation of foods at a temperature that destroys
harmful microorganisms without major changes in the chemical property of the food.

Long Answer Questions

Question 1. Explain why antibiotics do not work against flu or any infection caused by viruses.

Answer: Viruses cannot be killed by using antibiotics as their cell pathways are different from that of
bacteria. It means taking antibiotics to get rid of flu or any other viral infection is useless, because it does
not re-duce the strength of the virus, nor does it reduce the duration of the infection. But, however,
antibiotic will work if we get attacks of viral infection and bacterial disease at the same time. Even then, it
will cure bacterial disease only but not the viral infection.

Question 2. Mention any three ways through which pathogens are transmitted.

Answer: Three ways because of which pathogens are transmitted are as follows:

1. When a person sneezes or coughs, tiny droplets containing a number of disease-causing

microorganisms come out of the mouth, and are released in the air. They are transmitted to a healthy
person while breathing.
2. By making direct contacts with an infected person, pathogens are transferred to a healthy person.
3.arriers of pathogens also help in their transmission. For instance, when a fly sits on animal excreta or
garbage, harmful disease-causing microbes stick to its legs. And when this fly sits on the food items,
pathogens get transferred to them. This contaminated food items cause serious diseases when it is
eaten by a healthy person.
2. .Explain how malaria is transmitted to humans.
Answer:A protozoan called Plasmodium is responsible for malaria. It lives in the liver and blood of the
person who has been infected by this disease. A female Anopheles mosquito when sucks blood from the
infected person, Plasmodium along with blood, is taken into its stomach. The Plasmodium, here,
multiplies itself and reaches the salivary gland of the mosquito. Now, when this mosquito bites a healthy
person, it injects Plasmodium along with saliva to him. The healthy person then gets an attack of
malaria. In this way, malaria is transmitted to humans.
 Question 5. Explain various types of bacteria.

Answer: Bacteria are classified on the basis of their shapes into the following categories:

● Rod-shaped bacteria (bacilli):

These are aerobic rod-shaped, spore-producing bacteria. They are often occurring in chain-like formations, and
hey are found primarily in soil; e.g., Lactobacillus.
● Spherical-shaped bacteria (cocci):
They are spherical or nearly spherical bacteria; e.g., Streptococcus.
● Curved-shaped bacteria (vibrios):
They are curved-shaped bacteria; e.g., Vibrio.
● Spiral-shaped bacteria (spirilla):
They are flagellated, aerobic bacteria, having a spirally twisted rod-like form; e.g., Treponema

Higher Order Thinking Skills

Question 1.What is the difference between Rhizobium and cyanobacteria in the way of fixing nitrogen for
the plants?

Answer: Rhizobium lives in the root nodules of leguminous plants in a symbiotic relationship whereas
cyanobacteria lives freely in the soil and fixes nitrogen.

Question 2.It is always suggested that not to eat anything from street hawkers. Why?

Answer: Most of street hawkers sells food items in an open area which always get contaminated with the
dust and flies carrying germs with them. Such an unhygienic condition lead to spoilage of food which
when consumed can lead to serious illness.

Question 3. Why oil is added while making pickle?

Answer: Oil seals off the air from the item that is being pickled and thus inhibit the growth of most of the
microorganisms.
Question 4. Ria thought of making curd. For this, she took lukewarm milk, mixed some curd into it and
stir well. She kept the mixture in fridge. Next day she observed that curd was not set. Can you tell why the
curd did not set?

Answer: Curd did not set because she kept the mixture in fridge. Lower temperature of fridge retarded
the growth of Lactobacillus in the mixture.

Question 5.Why do idli and dosa maker add some yeast or old batter of pervious day to the newly-made
batter and keep it for one day?

Answer: For fermentation of idli and dosa yeast or old batter is added. Fermentation makes idli fluffy and
dosa crispy, and changes the flavor.