Life Processes: What is Nutrition, Digestion, Respiration, Excretion and Transportation II Class 10 II Introduction to chapter Life Processes.

Alive or Not Alive?

The living organisms that can respire and shows movement are sad to be ALIVE, while others are not alive.

LIVING ORGANISMS ARE WELL ORGANISED STRUCTURES:

By well-organized structure we mean they are made up of tissue and tissues are further having cells and cells have other cell components.

This pattern or organization remains same in all living organisms.

This well-organized structure need to be maintained and repair.

HOW THIS CAN BE MANTAINED?

All the processes that were needed for the job of maintenance and repair are called as Life Processes.

These processes need energy, and energy is provided by food, that is mainly Carbohydrates, rich in Carbon.

The process of transfer of source of energy from outside the body of an organism to inside is called as NUTRITION.

Depending on the source of food, nutrition can be of varied types.

Now the food we take inside our body is converted to energy, by help of certain chemical reactions called as Oxidizing-Reducing reactions that requires oxygen from outside.

These reactions break food into energy.

The process of acquiring oxygen from outside the body, and to use it in the process of break-down of food sources for cellular needs, is called as Respiration.

This uptake of Food and Oxygen is by specialized tissues.

So, Food and Oxygen are outside raw materials used for by an organism

In multicellular organisms all the cells are not attached to one another there is division of labor, so diffusion is not enough for transport of oxygen.

When chemical reactions use the carbon source and the oxygen for energy generation, they create by-products that are not only useless for the cells of the body but could even be harmful.

The process by which these waste by products are removed from the body and discarded outside by a process called Excretion.

Similarly, there is transportation system needed to transport waste away from cells to this excretory tissue.

The processes essential for maintaining life are Nutrition, Respiration, Excretion and Transportation.