03/09/15

Life Processes

Signs of life

03/09/15

Serious efforts to discover life on other planets

have been going on for many years.

If extra-terrestrial beings really were

discovered how would scientists decide if
they were alive?

A simple way of sorting everything on our planet

is to divide it into 2 groups

living things and non-living things.

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Life Processes
All living things have to perform seven life processes.
Do you know what they are?

Movement
Respiration
Sensitivity
Growth
Reproduction
Excretion
Nutrition

Each letter in the phrase MRS

GREN gives you the first letter of
one of the life processes.
If something does not perform all of
the seven life processes then it is
not alive.

For something to be classed as

Dead it must have been alive
once !!

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The 7 Life Processes

Movement
Respiration
Sensitivity
Growth
Reproduction
Excretion
Nutrition

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Exercise 1: Animal Movement

1.

Why do animals move?

To find food, water, shelter, to hide from predators
and to reproduce.

2. Copy and complete the table below:

Type of
movement

Example of
animal

Walking

Humans
Insect
Horse

Crawling
Running
Flying
Swimming
Jumping
Swinging

Bird
Fish
Kangaroo
Chimpanzee

Plant

Movement

1. Do plants move?
Yes, plants do move, but
very slowly compared to
most animals.

2. Why do plants move?

Plants move towards
sunlight which they
need to make food.
Some flowers close
during the night.
Roots will move towards water
and gravity.

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Respiration
Respiration is the process by which
energy is released from our food.
This energy is used for the organism to
perform the other life processes.
Most of our food is digested down to glucose.
This joins with oxygen to release the energy and gives
off the waste products carbon dioxide and water.
Glucose + Oxygen ENERGY + Carbon dioxide + Water

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Match the word to its correct meaning:

1 respiration

A
D

is a process
the
poisonous
thatby-product
releases energy
of respiration.
from food.

2 oxygen

B
C

3 carbon dioxide

C
A

4 water

D
E

is needed
take
materials
to release
to andenergy
from respiring
from glucose
cells. in
the body.
is a
needed
poisonous
to release
by-product
energy
of from
respiration.
glucose in
the body.
themade
is
process
when
that
energy
releases
is released
energy from food.

5 energy

E
F

is needed
made when
to doenergy
the rest
is of
released
MRS GREN.
from food.

6 transport systems

F
B

is needed
take
materials
to dotothe
and
rest
from
of respiring
MRSGREN.
cells.

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Exercise 2:

Respiration

1. Which gas is required for respiration?

Oxygen.
2. What are the waste products of respiration?
Water and Carbon dioxide.
3. Write a word equation for the process of respiration.
Food + Oxygen Energy + Carbon dioxide + Water
4. What is the chemical test for carbon dioxide gas?
It turns limewater milky (and then clear again).

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True or false?
1. Respiration means breathing.

FALSE

2. Respiration occurs in all body cells.

TRUE

3. Respiration gives out oxygen.

FALSE

4. Carbon dioxide is used up by respiration.

FALSE

5. Respiration is a chemical process that

releases energy.

TRUE

6. Plants do not respire.

FALSE

move

reproduce

respiration

sensitivity

nutrition

excreted

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grow

Living things ____________ to produce offspring.

Animals also _________ to catch food, to find a mate and also
to escape any predators.
As we get older, we ______ to reach our full size.
We use energy to do different things. Releasing energy from
food is called ____________ and eating the food we require
is called __________ .
Any waste produced is ________ from our bodies.
Living things must also react to what happens to them.
This is called _________ .

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Sensitivity
Sensitivity is the ability of living things to detect changes in
their surroundings and respond to these changes.
Humans have five senses; do you know what they are?

Touch
Taste
Smell
Sight
Hearing

Skin
Tongue
Nose
Eyes
Ears

Which organs are

associated with these
senses?

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Exercise 3: Sensitivity
1. What is sensitivity?
Being able to detect and respond to your surroundings.
2. Complete the table below:
Sense

Body part

Sight

Eye

Hearing

Ear

Taste

Tongue
Nose

Smell
Touch

Skin

3. Name two animals that can hear ultrasound.

Dogs and bats.

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Growth
Animals grow until they
reach adulthood and then
stop growing.

Plants continue to grow

throughout their lives.

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Animal Reproduction
All organisms need to reproduce. Reproduction is the making of
new organisms. If organisms did not reproduce, then once
those organisms died there would be no more of the species left.
Some animals reproduce by
laying eggs.
Example: Birds
Some animals reproduce by
giving birth to live young.
Example: Mammals
Mammals suckle their young
- the females provide milk for
their offspring.

Adult and young kangaroo

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Exercise 5: Link the Matching Pairs

Acorn

Lion

Cub

Seal

Calf

Oak tree

Baby

Human

Pup

Whale

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Plant Reproduction
Some plants reproduce using the wind to carry pollen from one
flower to another.
Some plants reproduce using insects or birds to carry pollen
from one flower to another.

Why are insects attracted to flowers?

They are attracted by scent, colour and nectar.

Excretion
Excretion is the process where an organism gets rid of waste
products that would otherwise cause it harm.
Breathe through a tube into
a beaker of limewater. What
do you observe?

What happened to the limewater?

What does this tell you?

It went milky.

There is more carbon dioxide in the air we breathe out than the
air we breathe in.
Carbon dioxide is a waste product of respiration. What is the
other waste product? HINT! Breathe on a mirror.
The waste products of respiration are carbon dioxide and
water.

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Exercise 6: Removing Waste

1. What do we call the process that remove waste
products from an organism?
Excretion.
2. What are the waste products of respiration?
Water and carbon dioxide.
3. How do we remove carbon dioxide from our body?
We breathe it out.
4. What would happen if we did not remove this carbon
dioxide?
It would poison our bodies and eventually kill us.

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Nutrition
Nutrition is the obtaining of food to keep an organism healthy.
Animals eat food. Some animals eat other animals. What do we
call these types of animals?
CARNIVORES.
Some animals eat
plants What do we call
these animals?
HERBIVORES.
Animals that eat plants
and animals are called
OMNIVORES.

A carnivore

Green plants make their own food using sunlight, water and
carbon dioxide. This process is called PHOTOSYNTHESIS.

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Exercise 7: Link the Word with the Description

Carnivore
Omnivore

Plant-eating animals

Meat-eating animals

Photosynthesis

The gas needed by green

plants to make food

Carbon dioxide

Animals that eat

meat and plants

Herbivore

The process by which green

plants make food using sunlight

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Exercise 8: Insert the Key Words

Animals must eat food to gain nutrition. Animals that
eat plants are called _________.
herbivores Animals that eat
____ are called carnivores. Animals that eat meat
meat
and plants are called _________.
omnivores
Green plants gain nutrition by making their own food
using _______,
sunlight water and oxygen. This process is
photosynthesis
called _____________.
meat

omnivores
herbivores

photosynthesis
sunlight