Exchange with the environment

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  • Topic 8
    • Effective diffusion
      • Steep concentration gradient
      • Short travel distance (squamos cells)
      • Large surface area
      • Large surface area to volume ratio
    • Diffuision in different organisms
      • Single cells exchange material with the environment
      • Multi cellular organisms have specialised systems fro substance exchange
        • Fish have highly vascularised internal gills to draw oxygen from water
        • Insects and arthropods have a fine tracheal tubes where gas exchange occurs
        • All vertebrates have lungs that connected to the pharynx
    • Gas exchange in plants
      • Guard cells open and close the stomata
      • Plants loose water through the opening of the stomata by the guard cells
      • Xerophyte plants have adapted to dry and hot conditions to minimize water loss
        • Sunken stomata- maintain humid air around the stomata
        • Smaller leaf surface area- prevents more water being evaporated
        • Waxy cuticle- makes a water proof layer
        • Extensive and shallow root- absorb water from the humus layer of the soil
    • Gas exchange in insects
      • Exoskeleton made of chitin covered by a impermeable cuticle
      • Spiracles are connected to the trachea which runs through the body
        • Spiracles can be closed to prevent water loss
      • The trachea has lots of water vapour to reduce water loss at the surface
      • Tracheoles is at the tips of the trachea and it is where gas exchange occurs
      • Some insects pump air in and out of their tracheoles- this is ventilation and leads to mass transport of O2 and CO2
    • Gas exchange in fish
      • Water passes over the gils to get oxygen that has been dissolved in water
      • Lamella provide a large surface area and contain squamous cells for short diffusion rates
      • Water and the fishes blood move in a countercurrent system to steepen the concentration gradient and cause a faster rate of oxygen diffusion
    • Gas exchange in humans
      • The trachea is suported by C-shaped rings of cartilidge to keep our throat open so we can breath
      • Alveoli is the site of gas exchange- they have a large surface area and a rich blood supply
      • Ventilation allows for a constant supply of air- It is tidal
      • Breathing in is an active process- diaphragm contracts and intercostal muscles contract
        • Diaphragm move down and increases volume in the thorax
        • External intercostal muscles pull the ribcage up to increase volume in the thorax so the air in the lungs is at a lower pressure than that of the air
      • Breathing out is a passive process- diaphragm relaxes and the lungs and chest return to the thorax
        • Volume in the thorax decreases- pressure inside the lung increases so air can travel out
    • Digestion and absorption
      • Small intestine have villi and microvilli which increases surface area
      • Lipid digestion- bile salts hydrophobic molecules break down the large globule lipids into micelles
        • This increases surface area for lipase action
        • The mixture of water and micelles is emulsion and is how the lipids can be broken down and absorbed
      • Gastric juices break down proteins as they contain pepsin
        • Pepsin is a endopeptidasewhich breaks the peptide bonds to make smaller chains
          • Trypsin in the small intestine then breaks the protein chains down smaller
            • Exopeptidase then break the protein into dipeptides and amino acids and enzymes then further break the dipeptides into amino acids
      • fatty acids resynthesive into triglycerides and associate with proteins to make chylomicrons in the epithelial cells

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