Answers to Workbook exercises

Unit 4 Respiration
Exercise 4.1 A model of the human
respiratory system
1 lungs – balloons
diaphragm – stretchy rubber
trachea – glass tube
rib cage – bell jar
2 a It gets larger.
b The more space a gas has, the lower its pressure is.
c It gets lower.
3 When the rubber is pulled downwards, the space inside the jar gets larger. This
reduces the air pressure inside the jar. Air moves into the jar from the higher-
pressure air outside the jar. The only way in is down the glass tube and into the
balloons, so they inflate.

Exercise 4.2 Lung surface area and body mass

1 The entries should be arranged in order of either decreasing or increasing body
mass. For example:
Mammal Body mass / g Total surface area
of air sacs / m2
human 80 000 70
sheep 68 000 60
fox 20 000 40
rabbit 4 000 8
rat 300 0.8
mouse 20 0.1
2 The larger the body mass, the larger the total surface area of the air sacs. Students
might also add that the relationship is not proportional.
3 The larger an animal is, the more oxygen it will need, because it will contain
more cells that are all respiring and using up oxygen. Having a larger surface
area of air sacs enables more oxygen to diffuse into the body at the same time,
which will help to supply the demands of the respiring cells. A similar argument
could be put forward relating to the need to get rid of carbon dioxide produced
by the respiring cells.

Exercise 4.3 An investigation using

hydrogencarbonate indicator
1 This allowed gases to move from the organisms to the indicator, but stopped the
organisms from falling into the indicator.
2 This made sure that gases produced by the organisms stayed inside the tube, where
they would affect the indicator.
3 Two out of: the size of the test tubes; the volume of hydrogencarbonate indicator;
the height of the platform above the indicator; the mass of the organisms or beads
used in each tube.

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 Answers to Workbook exercises: Unit 4

4 For example:

Tube Contents Colour of Final colour of

indicator at start indicator
A live maggots red yellow
B dead seeds red red
C live germinating seeds red yellow
D plastic beads red red

5 At the start, the indicator in all the tubes was red. This was because there is a small
amount of carbon dioxide in the air.
In tubes A and C, the maggots and germinating seeds respired. They produced
carbon dioxide, which made the indicator turn yellow.
In tubes B and D there were no living organisms so no respiration took place. There
was no change in the quantity of carbon dioxide in the air inside the tubes, so the
indicator did not change colour.
6 a The indicator would go purple.
b The plants would photosynthesise. They would use up carbon dioxide from the
air, so there would be no carbon dioxide in it.
(Note that the plants will also respire, but they will photosynthesise faster than
they respire. All the carbon dioxide produced by respiration will be used up in
photosynthesis.)
7 The variable to change is the type of seeds – whether they are beans or peas. There
is no need to have any dead seeds or plastic beads; the tubes need to contain only
live beans and live peas.
Students may suggest using repeats – for example, two identical tubes containing live
beans, and another two containing live peas.
The variables to keep constant include: the total mass of the seeds, the amount of
water given to the seeds when they are soaked (to begin germination); the volume
and type of indicator solution used; the size of the test tubes; the temperature.
(Students may think of others.)
The variable that will be measured is either the time taken for the indicator to reach
a particular shade of yellow, or the colour of the indicator after a certain amount
of time.

Exercise 4.4 Recording breathing rate and depth

1 12
2 a 0.50, 0.50, 0.40, 0.40, 0.45, 0.45, 0.40, 0.50, 0.45, 0.45
(Note that students should be able to read each value to the nearest 0.05 dm3. Each
value should be recorded to the same number of decimal places.)
b 0.45 dm3
3 21
4 a 1.15, 1.15, 1.10, 1.00, 1.05, 1.20, 1.05, 1.15, 1.30, 1.40
b 1.15 dm3
5 When Pietro was running, his muscle cells respired faster, to supply enough energy
for the muscles to contract quickly, over and over again. He breathed more quickly
and more deeply to supply extra oxygen so the muscle cells could respire faster.

Copyright Cambridge University Press 2013 Cambridge Checkpoint Science 8 2

 Answers to Workbook exercises: Unit 4

Exercise 4.5 Smoking statistics

1 Answers will depend on the country that students choose.
2 The bar chart should have:
• ‘Country’ on the x-axis, with individual bars labelled with the name of the country
• ‘Percentage of people who smoked’ on the y-axis
• a scale on the y-axis running from 0 to at least 65 in sensible steps (e.g. in 5 s or 10 s)
• different types of bars for men and women, indicated with a key
• women and men for the same country shown as bars close together, or touching
• bars for different countries a little further apart, not touching
• each bar drawn carefully with a ruler, all the same width and correctly plotted.
3 From the data provided:
a Chile
b Indonesia
c Indonesia

Copyright Cambridge University Press 2013 Cambridge Checkpoint Science 8 3