Human Body Project: Excretory

System
created by Daria Hoang, Jacob Jossart, Zach Muzzarelli, and Cris Boggio
Background Information & Facts about the Excretory System:
What organ system are you modeling? What are the functions of your organ system?
We are modeling the excretory system, whose primary function is to help maintain homeostasis
by eliminating excess waste products such as salt, carbon dioxide, and urea. Urea is the most
common form of metabolic waste. It is a converted form of ammonia, which is toxic to the body
even within a small period of time. The excretory system encompasses three main organs: the
skin, lungs, and kidneys.
The kidneys are two organs, about the size of a clenched fist; here, waste-rich blood enters
through the renal artery. After filtration has occurred, clean filtered blood leaves through the
renal vein and returns to the body for use. The leftover waste products, which consist of excess
water, urea, and salt, exit through the ureter and form urine.
Structurally, the kidneys have two main sections: the outer part, the cortex, and the inner part,
the medulla. Arterioles branch off from main arteries in the kidney and lead to the nephrons,
functional units of the kidney located in the cortex. Each nephron has a Bowmans capsule,
which contains a fine bed of capillaries called the glomerulus. At this point, blood gets filtered in
these capillaries (pressure filtration). Because capillaries are so thin, cells can directly diffuse
across their permeable membranes. The resulting filtrate contains water, urea, glucose, salt,
amino acids, and some vitamins.
Because filtrate still contains materials valuable to the body, reabsorption occurs: nutrients,
amino acids, and glucose are reabsorbed.
Hydrogen ions, which make solutions acidic, are then secreted into the filtrate through
capillaries; from here on, the filtrate is then considered urine. The urine is concentrated in the
loops of Henle. Much of the water in urine is reabsorbed here in order to combat dehydration; a
balance between water and salt concentration is essential for the body to maintain homeostasis.
Lastly, urine is stored in the bladder until released into the urethra.
Our Model:
What functions does your model demonstrate? How does it demonstrate each function?
What functions of your organ system are not demonstrated by your model? If you had
unlimited time and resources, how would you demonstrate these functions? What
scientific principles did you need to understand in order to build your model?

Our model demonstrates several of the excretory systems main functions. First, it shows how
diffusion occurs in the kidney. We utilized dialysis tubing and iodine to show how waste products
move across a selectively permeable membrane: in our model, the iodine moves across the
tubing into the surrounding water.
We also demonstrate how the waste is then transported to the bladder via the ureter. With
another differently-colored tube, we also show how some materials are re-absorbed and
returned to the body.
We could not demonstrate the lungs, which are a part of the excretory system, because we had
limited time.
We used a pump to continually replenish the water supply in the cup containers, which
represents the notion of the kidneys continually receiving blood to filter.
In order to make and understand the excretory system, we had to know several scientific
principles, including:
1. Diffusion
2. Selectively permeable membranes (capillaries)
3. Pressure Filtration
4. Osmosis
5. Reabsorption
6. Secretion
7. Composition and Chemistry of Blood
8. Relationship between Water and Salt
If we had unlimited resource and time, we would buy a nicer piece of wood and construct a
more sturdy model.
Design Process:
How did you come up with the ideas? How did your group decide on the ideas/plan that
resulted in your model? What ideas were considered and then dismissed? Why were
they dismissed? What problems did you face in the design process and how did you
solve them? How many times did you have to redesign, test, and improve?
We came up with the idea after studying textbooks and browsing the internet for model ideas.
We decided on the first version of our model because we thought it would be a good, aesthetic
way to demonstrate the functions of the excretory system. We initially wanted to use PVC pipe
and a three-dimensional stand, as wed seen in manufactured models, but it proved difficult to
hold the weight of the structure up on one post.
In the end, we scrapped our first model and went with a slightly altered version: this time,
instead of having everything standing up, we set it against a wooden board but used protruding
materials in order to show the system. This made the entire system easier to deal with.

Even in that more stable position, we realized that the containers we used to represent the
kidneys -- large, cumbersome plastic containers -- were too weak to hold up when they were
filled with water. We then took apart our model once again and replaced them in favor of
smaller, and therefore stronger, plastic containers.
In total, we redesigned our model about three major times.
Collaboration:
Who did what? How did each member of the group contribute? How did you decide who
would do what? Did you leverage strengths and talents of people in your group or was it
random or volunteer based?
In our group, one person did most of the research while the other three worked on building the
model. We decided on this arrangement after weighing each members strengths: three were
more adept to hands-on construction while the other was strong in meticulous research.
Discuss Project Management:
How was the work managed in your group? Was there a leader? Did you choose a
leader? How did you communicate with each other about ideas and logistics of building
the model? How did you resolve disagreements?
Work was managed in relation to our group roles. Most of the researching fell under the
responsibility of our one researcher; most of the building fell under the three constructors. Within
each division, there was a leader who took charge. Overall, we had good communication; as a
result, we were able to make the connection between most of the biological principles with our
model.
Whenever we ran into group disagreements, we would take a vote and see which idea was
favored. If we had enough time, we would try every idea to see which worked best.
Relation to the Real World:
How could what you learned during this project, your model, the concepts used in your
model or the design and building process relate to, contribute to, or help a real life
situation?
Understanding the excretory system at both the molecular and systematic level can contribute
greatly to a real life situation. We can understand why the excretory system is a vital process.
Even better, we can learn how dialysis works in the kidneys.