Science: Biology Revision Notes

Revision Topics:
• Cells and Living Things
• Osmosis + Diffusion
• Nutrition

Topic 1: Cells and Living Things:

• Variety of Living Things
• Classifying Living Things
• Inside Cells, Specialised and Organised
Variety of Living Things:
What Types of Living Organisms are there?
• Animals: Vertebrates, Invertebrates
• Plants: Flowering and Non – Flowering
• Fungi: Unicellular, Multi – Cellular
• Bacteria
• Viruses
All living organisms:
• Grow
• Reproduce
• Respire: combine food with oxygen and release CO2 and
Energy
• React
• Excrete
• Nutrition/Feed
ALL LIVING THINGS ARE MADE OF CELLS.

The Nature of living organisms:

Animals: Specific sense organs, nervous systems, never contain
chloroplasts, lack cell walls.
Plants: All contain chlorophyll and chloroplasts (reason they’re
green!), carry out photosynthesis.
Fungi: unicellular + multi – cellular, never contain chloroplasts.

Classifying living things:

There are two ways of classifying:

WAY 1:
1{ Made of one cell --- Amoeba
Made of many cells --- go to 2 made of one cell made of many cells
Microbe
2{ Has green parts --- plant
Has no green parts --- go to 3
Has no green parts has green parts - plant
3{
 Science: Biology Revision Notes
Has four legs --- cat
Has six legs --- invertebrate

CELLS:
Nearly all living things, from simple bacteria to complicated
animals like humans, are made up of cells. Cells are the building
blocks of life. Simple bacteria are just made up of one cell.
Humans are built out of countless millions.

Parts of the animal and plant cell and their functions:

Animal Cell
Plant Cell

Structure Function
Nucleus Controls the entire cell.
Cell Controls substances that pass either direction.
Membran
e
Mitochon Carries out some reactions of respiration to release
dria energy that the cell can use.
Cell Wall Helps the cell keep its shape and supports it.
(usually found in plant cells)
Vacuole Filled with watery liquid called “Cell Sap” - a store of
dissolved sugars, mineral ions and other solutes
Chloropla Absorbs light energy to make food for
st photosynthesis. Contains a green pigment called
“Chlorophyll”
Cytoplas Jelly-like substance where chemical reactions take
m place
 Science: Biology Revision Notes

Topic 2: Diffusion and Osmosis:

Diffusion: is the movement of particles from one area of HIGH

concentration to an area of LOW concentration.

Osmosis: is the movement of water particles from an area of

HIGH concentration to an area of LOW concentration (i.e. a weak
to a strong solution) across a SEMI – PERMEABLE MEMBRANE.

HIGH CONCENTRATION OF WATER: LOW CONCENTRATION OF

WATER:
PURE WATER SOMETHING DISSOLVED IN
WATER

Permeable: substances going in and out

Selectively: choose what is permeable
Turgid: hard and firm: e.g. plant
cell, when placed in water, it
absorbs the water and the
vacuole expands pushing out the
WATER cell wall, but the cell wall pushes
it back
Flaccid: Soft and Floppy: e.g. a

High to Low concentration of water

Weak to Strong solution
Title: _________________________________________________ Name: _________________ Date: __ /
__ / ____

Aim: Input variable: thing you change (independent variable)

Output variable: the measurable change (dependant variable)
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
____

Prediction: _______________________________________________________________ Equipment:

Planning out an experiment:
________________________

List: Independent Variable: ____________ Dependant Variable: _______________ Controlled Variable:

_______________________

Method:
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
 Science: Biology Revision Notes

Topic 3: Nutrition:

Sources and Functions:

Food Source Function

Carbohydrates Rice, Potatoes, Energy
Bread, Pasta, Wheat
Millet.
Proteins Meat, Fish, Cheese, Growth and Repair
Tofu and Eggs, of Tissues
Beans, Peas and
Nuts.
Lipids (Fats) Meat (Beef, Lamb), Store of Energy
butter, cheese, milk,
eggs and oily fish.
Vitamin A Fish liver oils, Liver, Making a chemical
Butter, Margarine, in the retina; also
Carrots. protects the surface
of the eye.
Vitamin C Fresh fruit and Sticks together cells
vegetables. lining surfaces such
as the mouth.
Mineral ions – Dairy products, fish, Calcium: Making
Calcium + Iron bread and teeth and bones.
vegetables. Iron: Blood to carry
Red meat, liver, Oxygen.
eggs, some
vegetables e.g.
spinach.
Water Water, Fruits, Regulates body
Vegetables. temperature;
 Science: Biology Revision Notes
required for
expiration; carries
nutrients and
oxygen to all the
cells in the body;
protects and
cushions vital
organs. Converts
food into energy;
absorbs nutrients
and removes waste
Dietary Fibre Fruits, Vegetables, Keeps the digestive
Pulses and whole system healthy;
grains speeds up excretion
of waste and toxics

Testing for particular foods:

Food How to test for it What to look for

in results
Starch Put some starch Very dark blue or
solution into a test- blue-black colour
tube. Add few drops proves that starch is
of iodine. present.
Glucose Place some glucose The solution (clear
solution into a test- blue) will gradually
tube. Add a few change colour,
drops of Benedict’s. forming a cloudy
Put the test-tube orange or brick red
into a beaker of precipitate of
boiling water. Copper (I) Oxide.
Protein Put some protein Mauve colour
solution into a test- develops
tube. Add a few
drops of copper
sulphate. Add a few
drops of sodium
hydroxide.
Lipid (Fat) Add 2 cm³ ethanol White cloudy layer
to some cooking oil. forms on top of the
Then shake the test- water, leaving the
tube. Then add 2 lipid behind as a
 Science: Biology Revision Notes
cm³ water and suspension of tiny
shake again. droplets, called an
emulsion.

Experiment: Making a model gut (Testing for starch and

enzymes):

Results: After 10 mins. 30

sec, we added iodine
inside and outside the
visking tubing. Then
using the clinistix we
tested for sugar.

Outsi Insid
de e
Iodin Yellow Yellow
e
Clinis Purple Purple
tix

Conclusion: From the

Digestion of 3 types of food
molecules by enzymes:
A protein molecule is made up
of many different amino
acids.
breaks down protein molecules into amino
results we can see that
the amylase had digested
the starch and turned it
into sugar. The yellow
sign tells us there is no
starch present; purple
signifies there is sugar
present.
Protease
acids

A carbohydrate molecule e.g. starch is made up of many sugar

units. Amylase breaks down starch molecules into
sugar units

Maltose: a two sugar

unit
 Science: Biology Revision Notes
A fat molecule is made up of fatty acid and glycerol molecules. Lipase
breaks down the fat molecules into fatty acids.

Fatty
Glycerol Acids

Experiment: The effect of pepsin on egg – white suspension:

Equipment & Method:

• Four labelled (1 – 4) test-tubes
• All tubes contain 5cm3 of egg – white suspension
• Tube 2, 3, 4 contains 3 drops dilute hydrochloric acid
• Clean test-tube: 1cm3 pepsin solution + heat over Bunsen
burner until liquid is boiled.
• Test-tube 4: Put the boiled pepsin solution
• Water bath in a 250cm3 beaker: hot and cold water mixed.
40ºC. Half full beaker
• Tubes 1, 3: add 1cm3 of pepsin solution
• All 4 tubes in water bath
• Remove tubes after 5 – 6 min. Compare appearances.

Tu Contents Res
be ult
1 Egg – white suspension & Clou
pepsin dy
2 Egg – white suspension & HCl Clou
dy
3 Egg – white suspension, Clea
pepsin & HCl r
4 Egg – white suspension, boiled Clou
pepsin & HCl dy

Discussion:

The egg – white looked cloudy because there was protein in it

and it had not been digested. If it goes from cloudy to clear this
means that it has been digested by an enzyme in its optimum
condition. The acidic condition most suits this enzyme which is
only available in the stomach. In general, when an enzyme is
boiled, it gets denatured. This means that it is destroyed.
 Science: Biology Revision Notes
Experiment: The action of lipase:

Equipment & Method:

• Three labelled (1 – 3) test-tubes.
• All contain 5cm3 of milk
• All contain 7cm3 of dilute sodium carbonate solution
• Tube 2, 3: 1cm3 bile salts
• All contain phenolphthalein solution until pink (6 drops)
Phenolphthalein: pH indicator. Alkali: pink, Acidic:
colourless
• Spare test-tube, place 15mm lipase solution. Heat over
Bunsen burner
• Cool tube under running water
• Transfer 1 cm3 of the liquid to test-tube 2
• Tubes 1, 3: 1cm3 of unboiled lipase solution
• Note time. Shake all tubes to mix contents.
• Check time when each tube goes white
The Action of Lipase
Tu All three tubes contain milk, sodium Time taken to
be carbonate and phenolphthalein plus: change from pink to
white
1 Lipase only 8 mins.
2 Boiled Lipase and bile salts Didn’t turn from
pink to white
3 Lipase and bile salts 6 mins.

Food substances that are present in milk are Lipids, lactose and
protein. If the pink colour changes to colourless we can assume
that it has neutralised or turned more acidic. The final products of
digestion in milk are: Fats/ Lipids – Fatty acids + glycerol,
Protein – amino acids. It’s obviously the fatty acids that are
responsible for the change in the solution because there was no
protease added to the solution. Experiment 1 tells us that lipase
acts like an enzyme. The bile salts emulsify the fats this means it
speeds up the process to break the fat.

Enzyme action:
• Enzymes are biological catalysts
• Catalysts speed up reactions – biological because they are
in living organisms. E.g. speeds up digestion (breaking
 Science: Biology Revision Notes
down of large insoluble food molecules to small soluble food
molecules)
o Protein: cloudy to clear: insoluble to soluble
(experiment)
• Substrates (proteins, lipids, carbohydrates)
• Products (amino acids, fatty acids and glycerol, simple
sugars)

• For enzymes to work they must collide with the substrate.

• Enzymes are affected by:
o Temperature: warmer temperatures
make them work faster: Kinetic
energy; more movement; more
chance of enzymes colliding. But if
it’s too hot then the enzymes are
denatured: destroyed.
o Surface area of a substrate: Chewing
speeds up the process
o PH: different enzymes have different
optimum pH in which they work best.
Extremes of pH denature enzymes.
Optimum
40 Temperature:
35 Fastest rate of
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90

Slower: Increasing the Slower: slowing down:

speed because it’s getting enzymes are denatured.
hotter. More Kinetic Energy; Too much heat changes the
Proteins
more colliding; the fastest digested protease amino acidsshape.
rate: 40ºC Lipids digested lipase fatty acids
and glycerol
Carbohydrates digested carbohydrase
simple sugars
 Science: Biology Revision Notes

Where do enzymes work?

• Mouth: Neutral
conditions: Starch digestion
--- simple sugars
(amylase)
• Stomach: Acidic conditions: Proteins --- amino
acids (protease: pepsin)
• Small intestine: Alkali conditions:
Carbohydrates; Proteins; Lipids ---fatty acids
and glycerol, digests it all (protease,
carbohydrase, lipase)
• In the small intestine there is pancreatic juice
and bile present. The pancreatic juice contains
all three enzymes. The bile which is slightly
alkali emulsifies the fat.

Revision Questions: page 23 – 25 Q. 1, 2,3,4,7

1. These three organelles are found in cells: nucleus, chloroplasts
and mitochondrion
(a) Which would be found in:
(i) Cell from a human muscle: mitochondrion, nucleus
(ii) Palisade leaf cell: nucleus, chloroplast, mitochondrion
(iii) Cell from the root of a plant: nucleus, mitochondrion
(b)Explain fully why the answers to (ii) & (iii) above are different:
They all need nucleus and mitochondrion. Chloroplast is for
photosynthesis which a root of plant doesn’t need.
(c) What’s the function of the above:
Chloroplast: absorbs light energy to make food through the
process of photosynthesis
 Science: Biology Revision Notes
Nucleus: controls the actions of the cell
Mitochondrion: carries out respiration to release energy
2. In multi-cellular organisms, cells are organised into tissues,
organs and organ systems
(a) The diagram (in the book) shows a section through an artery
and a capillary. Explain why an artery can be considered to be
an organ whereas a capillary cannot.
Arteries: have three layers made of cells and muscles
whereas the capillary has one thin layer.
(b)Organ systems contain two or more organs whose functions
are linked. The digestive system is one human organ system.
(i) What does the digestive system do? Helps to break
large insoluble food molecules to small soluble food
molecules.
(ii) Name three organs in the human digestive system:
Stomach, Small intestine, pancreas.
Stomach: churns the food, adds acid, digests proteins
Small intestine: absorbs nutrients, digests all and lipids
Pancreas: produce pancreatic juice to digest all the
nutrients
(iii) Name two other human organ systems and, for each
system, name two organs that are part of the system.
Nervous system: Brain, Spinal Cord
Endocrine system: Glands secreting hormones –
chemical messenger
3. Catalyse is an enzyme found in many plant and animal cells. It
catalyses the breakdown of hydrogen peroxide into water and
oxygen.
Hydrogen peroxide water + oxygen
Catalase
(i) (a) How much oxygen was formed in this investigation? Explain
your answer.
(ii) Estimate the time by which half this mass of oxygen had been
formed.
(iii) K
4. Different particles move across cell membranes using different
processes.
Feature Active Osmo Diffus
Transport sis ion
Particles must have kinetic Yes Yes Yes
energy
Requires energy from respiration Yes No No
Particles move down a No Yes Yes
concentration gradient
Process needs special carriers in No Yes No
 Science: Biology Revision Notes
the membrane

(b)
(i) Explain the increase in the rate of diffusion up to 40ºC
The temperature has still not reached the optimum
temperature and is still heated up.
(ii) Suggest why the rate of increase is much steeper at
temperatures above 40ºC
Once it has reached the minimum temperature for the
absorption to start it gets more kinetic energy from the heat and the
speed is increased. This makes it steeper.

7. Complete the table below:

Feature Type of
Organism
Pla Fung Vir
nt us us
They are all parasites No Yes Yes
They are made up of a mycelium No Yes No
of hyphae
They can only reproduce inside No No Yes
living cells
They feed by extracellular No Yes No
digestion by enzymes
They store carbohydrates as Yes No No
starch

Possible Questions in the test

How do you test for starch?
Put some starch solution in the test-tube then add a few drops of iodine. A
black blue colour proves that starch is present.
How to test for glucose? C6H12O6
Put some glucose solution in the test-tube then add a few drops of Benedict's.
Put the test-tube in a beaker of warm water. The clear blue colour will
gradually turn into a cloudy orange or a brick red colour.
How do you test for protein?
Put a few drops of protein solution into the test-tube. Then add few drops of
copper sulphate then sodium hydroxide. A purplish/ lilac colour will appear.
How do you test for lipids/fats?
Add 2cm3 of ethanol to some cooking oil. Then shake the mixture. Add 2cm3
of water to the mixture then shake again. A white cloudy layer appears at the
top of the water leaving the lipid behind as a suspension of tiny droplets,
called an emulsion.
Write down the functions of the following nutrients: Also include a
source of the nutrient in ()
 Science: Biology Revision Notes
Protein: growing and repairing tissues (pasta)
Lipids/Fats: Store of energy (meat)
Vitamin A: produce a chemical in the retina (carrots)
Vitamin C: sticks together cell linings surfaces (oranges)
Carbohydrates: energy (potato)
Calcium: making bones and teeth (milk)
Iron: blood to carry oxygen (spinach)
Water: Regulates the body temperature; convert food into energy; carries
nutrients and oxygen all over the body (vegetables)
Dietary Fibre: Keep the digestive system healthy (whole grains)

Describe the process of digestion.

Firstly, digestion means breaking large insoluble food molecules into small
soluble food molecules. When chewing the food we are helping the food to
get digested, but it's still not too small to get digested. After it mixes with our
saliva in our mouth which helps to moisten the food, it goes down the gullet
and into out stomach where it is churned up and mixed with acids. After the
stomach it goes into the small intestine where the pancreas let out several
digestive enzymes and the nutrients are absorbed by the walls. Meanwhile
the liver makes a green juice called 'bile'. It emulsifies the food, which makes
the process easier as it quickens it. The pancreatic juice and the bile are both
alkali. The food that comes from the stomach is acidic so it neutralizes the
food by adding alkali. After the food has reached the end of the small
intestine, most of the nutrients and water has been absorbed already. What
are left are cellulose (fibre) and other indigestible remains. The large
intestine absorbs all the water left and turns the remaining into a semi-solid
waste material called faeces. This is stored in the rectum then expelled
through the anus.

Stomach: proteins are digested with the enzyme pepsin which

breaks it down into amino acids
Mouth: carbohydrates are digested with the enzyme: amylase
which breaks it down into simple sugars
Small intestine: all + lipids/ fats are digested with the enzyme
lipase which breaks it down into fatty acids and glycerol
Bile: green liquid juice made from the liver and stored in the
gall bladder. It emulsifies the food which speeds the process of
digestion. Turns any lipid globules into an emulsion of tiny
droplets. This increases the surface area and is easier for the
lipase enzyme to digest the food
Pancreas let out pancreatic juice which is another enzyme
which digests all the food.
Duodenum: the first part of the small intestine
Ileum: the last part of the small intestine