National Year 11 Combined Science: Trilogy
Chapters: 10
1. 4.5 Homeostasis and response
4.5.1 Homeostasis · 4.5.2 The human nervous system · 4.5.3 Hormonal coordination in humans
- Homeostasis – Homeostasis is how the body keeps its internal environment (blood and tissue fluid) steady even when the outside world changes. It controls body temperature (about 37 °C), blood glucose (about 4–6 mmol/L), water and salt, and blood pH (about 7.4). It mostly uses negative feedback: a receptor senses a change, a control centre decides, and an effector brings the level back to its set point.
- Nervous System, Reflex Action and the Human Brain – Nerve cells (neurons) carry messages as electric impulses and pass them to the next cell with chemicals across a gap called a synapse. Quick safety responses (reflexes) are handled by the spinal cord; thinking and control come from the brain, which is guarded by the skull and a fluid cushion.
- Hormones in Animals: Endocrine Glands and Feedback – Endocrine glands release chemical messengers called hormones straight into the blood. The blood carries them all over the body, but they act only on target cells. Hormones control growth, metabolism, emergency response, blood sugar and puberty, and their amount is kept right by feedback.
2. 4.6 Inheritance, variation and evolution
4.6.1 Reproduction · 4.6.2 Variation and evolution · 4.6.3 The development of understanding of genetics and evolution · 4.6.4 Classification of living organisms
- Reproduction in Human Beings and Reproductive Health – At puberty, hormones from the brain make the testes and ovaries start working. The male system makes and carries sperm; the female system makes eggs and provides a place (uterus) where a baby develops. Fertilisation happens in the oviduct, and the embryo is fed through the placenta. Reproductive health includes safe choices, contraception, avoiding female foeticide, and preventing sexually transmitted diseases such as HIV/AIDS.
- How Do Organisms Reproduce? DNA Copying and Asexual Reproduction – Reproduction makes new individuals by copying DNA. The copies are never perfect, and these small changes (variations) help a species survive when its surroundings change. In asexual reproduction a single parent makes offspring by fission, fragmentation, regeneration, budding, vegetative propagation or spores.
- Sexual Reproduction in Flowering Plants – Sexual reproduction joins a male and a female gamete, mixing DNA from two parents and creating more variation. In a flower, pollen from the anther reaches the stigma (pollination), grows a pollen tube to the ovule, and the male gamete fuses with the egg (fertilisation). The zygote becomes the embryo, the ovule becomes the seed and the ovary becomes the fruit.
- Evolution: How New Kinds of Living Things Arise – Variations arise during reproduction. Nature selects those that help survival, so over many generations populations change: this is evolution. Only inherited (DNA) changes pass on; acquired changes do not. Separated populations can become new species. Homologous organs, analogous organs and fossils help us trace who is related to whom, and complex organs evolved step by step.
- Diversity and Classification of Living Organisms – Earth has millions of kinds of living things, and India is one of the richest places. To study them, we sort them into groups by asking simple questions about their bodies: Is there a nucleus? One cell or many? Can it make its own food? This gives five kingdoms: Monera, Protista, Fungi, Plantae and Animalia. Animals split into invertebrates and vertebrates. Every species gets a two-part scientific name. Viruses are not cells, so they fit in no kingdom.
3. 4.7 Ecology
4.7.1 Adaptations, interdependence and competition · 4.7.2 Organisation of an ecosystem · 4.7.3 Biodiversity and the effect of human interaction on ecosystems
- Ecosystem, Food Chains and Energy Flow – An ecosystem is all the living things in a place plus the non-living things around them, working together. Energy enters as sunlight, passes one way up a food chain, and only about 10% moves to each next level.
- Biodiversity and its Conservation – Biodiversity is the variety of life at three levels: genetic, species and ecological. It is highest near the equator and grows with area (log S = log C + Z log A). Every species matters, like rivets on a plane. We are losing species fast because of the 'evil quartet': habitat loss and fragmentation, over-exploitation, alien species invasions and co-extinction. The IUCN Red List (Red Data Book) ranks species from Least Concern to Extinct. We protect life in situ (hotspots, national parks, sanctuaries, biosphere reserves, sacred groves, Ramsar wetlands) and ex situ (zoos, botanical gardens, seed and gene banks).
- Diversity and Classification of Living Organisms – Earth has millions of kinds of living things, and India is one of the richest places. To study them, we sort them into groups by asking simple questions about their bodies: Is there a nucleus? One cell or many? Can it make its own food? This gives five kingdoms: Monera, Protista, Fungi, Plantae and Animalia. Animals split into invertebrates and vertebrates. Every species gets a two-part scientific name. Viruses are not cells, so they fit in no kingdom.
4. 5.6 The rate and extent of chemical change
5.6.1 Rate of reaction · 5.6.2 Reversible reactions and dynamic equilibrium
- Rates of Reaction – The rate of a reaction is how fast reactants are used up or products are made. Rate = change in amount ÷ time. Particles must collide with at least the activation energy to react. More frequent, more energetic collisions mean a faster rate. Raising concentration (or gas pressure), temperature or surface area, or adding a catalyst, makes reactions faster. A catalyst gives a path with lower activation energy and is not used up.
- Chemical Equilibrium: Kc, Kp, Q and Gibbs Energy – In a closed container a reversible reaction goes both ways. After some time the forward and backward rates become equal, so amounts stop changing, but the reaction does not stop. This is dynamic equilibrium. At equilibrium the ratio of products to reactants (each raised to its coefficient) is a fixed number, the equilibrium constant K. Kc uses concentrations, Kp uses partial pressures, and Kp = Kc(RT)^Δn. Pure solids and liquids are left out of K. The reaction quotient Q tells the direction: Q < K goes forward, Q > K goes backward, Q = K is equilibrium. K and Gibbs energy are linked: ΔG = ΔG° + RT ln Q and ΔG° = −RT ln K.
5. 5.7 Organic chemistry
5.7.1 Carbon compounds as fuels and feedstock
- Carbon and Its Compounds: Bonding, Hydrocarbons and Naming – Carbon has 4 outer electrons, so it shares electrons (covalent bonds) instead of gaining or losing them. Because it bonds to itself (catenation) and always makes 4 bonds (tetravalency), it forms millions of compounds: chains, branches and rings, saturated or unsaturated. Compounds with the same functional group form a homologous series that differs by –CH₂–, and IUPAC names are built from the number of carbons + a suffix or prefix for the functional group.
6. 5.8 Chemical analysis
5.8.1 Purity, formulations and chromatography · 5.8.2 Identification of common gases
- Mixtures and Their Separation – A mixture has two or more substances mixed without any fixed ratio, and each keeps its own properties. Homogeneous mixtures (solutions) look the same everywhere; heterogeneous ones do not. By particle size we get solutions (< 1 nm), colloids (1–1000 nm) and suspensions (> 1000 nm). Colloids scatter light (Tyndall effect). Concentration tells how much solute is in a solution. We separate mixtures by using a difference in their parts: evaporation, crystallisation, distillation, chromatography, sublimation, centrifugation and coagulation.
- Tests for Gases: How to Identify Hydrogen, Oxygen, Carbon Dioxide, Chlorine and Ammonia – Most gases have no colour, so we identify them with a simple test that gives a clear sign. Hydrogen: a lit splint gives a squeaky pop. Oxygen: a glowing splint relights. Carbon dioxide: limewater turns milky. Chlorine: damp blue litmus turns red, then white (bleached). Ammonia: damp red litmus turns blue. Water vapour turns white anhydrous copper(II) sulfate blue. Sulfur dioxide turns acidified potassium manganate(VII) from purple to colourless.
7. 5.9 Chemistry of the atmosphere
5.9.1 The composition and evolution of the Earth's atmosphere · 5.9.2 Carbon dioxide and methane as greenhouse gases · 5.9.3 Common atmospheric pollutants and their sources
- The Composition and Evolution of Earth's Atmosphere – Today dry air is about 78% nitrogen, 21% oxygen and about 1% argon, with tiny amounts of carbon dioxide (about 0.04%) and other gases. Earth's early atmosphere came from volcanoes: mostly carbon dioxide and water vapour, with little or no oxygen. As Earth cooled, water vapour condensed into oceans and some CO2 dissolved. Algae and later plants made oxygen by photosynthesis. Carbon was locked away in sedimentary rocks such as limestone and in fossil fuels, so CO2 fell.
- Climate Change and the Greenhouse Effect – Climate is the average weather of a place over about 30 years. Greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide and methane trap some of the heat the Earth gives off. Humans have added a lot more of these gases by burning fossil fuels and cutting forests, so the Earth is warming. This causes melting ice, rising seas and more extreme weather. We can cut emissions (mitigation) and prepare for changes (adaptation).
- Pollution: Air, Water, Land and Noise – Pollution is the release of harmful substances or energy into air, water or land faster than nature can remove them. Main air pollutants are particulates, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and ozone; they cause acid rain and smog. Water pollution by nutrients, sewage and toxins causes eutrophication and biomagnification. We reduce pollution by cutting emissions at the source, cleaning waste before release, and the 3Rs.
8. 5.10 Using resources
5.10.1 Using the Earth's resources and obtaining potable water · 5.10.2 Life cycle assessment and recycling
- Water Purification: From Dirty Water to Safe Drinking Water – Potable water is water that is safe to drink. It is not pure: it still has some dissolved salts, but only small amounts and no harmful germs. To make it, we choose a good source, let solids settle, filter it, and kill germs with chlorine, ozone or UV light. Where fresh water is short, sea water is desalinated by distillation or reverse osmosis. Waste water from homes and farms is treated before it goes back to rivers. Hard water has dissolved calcium and magnesium salts; it can be softened by boiling or ion exchange.
- Life Cycle Assessment and Recycling – A life cycle assessment (LCA) adds up the environmental impact of a product over its whole life: getting the raw materials, making it, using it and getting rid of it. LCAs let us compare products fairly. Reusing and recycling materials such as metals, glass and plastics cut the use of raw materials, energy and landfill.
9. 6.5 Forces
6.5.1 Forces and their interactions · 6.5.2 Work done and energy transfer · 6.5.3 Forces and elasticity · 6.5.4 Forces and motion · 6.5.5 Momentum (HT)
- Force and Laws of Motion – A force is a push or a pull. Balanced forces (net force zero) do not change motion; an unbalanced force changes speed or direction. Friction opposes sliding. First law: a body keeps its state of rest or uniform motion unless an unbalanced force acts (inertia; heavier bodies have more inertia). Momentum p = mv. Second law: F = ma (rate of change of momentum), 1 N = 1 kg m/s². Third law: forces come in equal and opposite pairs acting on two different bodies. For a system with no outside force, internal forces cancel and total momentum is conserved.
- Work, Energy and Power – Work is done when a force moves an object: W = F × s, measured in joules (J). Energy is the ability to do work. A moving body has kinetic energy ½mv²; a raised body has potential energy mgh. Energy is never made or destroyed, only changed from one form to another. Power is how fast work is done: P = W ÷ t, in watts. Simple machines like levers and pulleys let a small effort move a big load.
- Mechanical Properties of Solids: Stress, Strain and Elasticity – When you pull, push or twist a solid, it changes shape a little. If it comes back when you let go, it is elastic. Stress is the restoring force per area (F/A). Strain is the fractional change in size (like ΔL/L). Up to the elastic limit, stress is proportional to strain (Hooke's law), and the ratio is a modulus: Young's modulus Y for stretching, bulk modulus B for squeezing all round, shear modulus G for sliding faces. A stretched wire also gets thinner (Poisson's ratio), and it stores energy ½ × stress × strain × volume.
- Motion: Distance, Speed, Velocity, Acceleration and Graphs – An object is in motion when its position changes with time. Distance is the full path length (a scalar); displacement is the straight gap from start to finish with a direction (a vector). Speed = distance ÷ time; velocity = displacement ÷ time. Acceleration = change in velocity ÷ time. The slope of an s–t graph gives velocity, the slope of a v–t graph gives acceleration, and the area under a v–t graph gives the distance. For uniform acceleration: v = u + at, s = ut + ½at², v² = u² + 2as.
- Third Law, Conservation of Momentum and Equilibrium of Forces – Forces always come in pairs: if A pushes B, B pushes A with an equal and opposite force at the same instant (third law). The pair acts on different bodies. For a system with no net external force, the total linear momentum stays constant, which explains recoil, rockets and collisions. A particle is in equilibrium when all forces on it add to zero; three concurrent forces in equilibrium form a closed triangle.
10. 6.6 Waves
6.6.1 Waves in air, fluids and solids · 6.6.2 Electromagnetic waves
- Sound – Sound is made by vibrating objects. It travels through a medium (air, water, solids) as a longitudinal wave: particles move back and forth, making crowded parts (compressions) and spread-out parts (rarefactions). Frequency (Hz) sets the pitch, amplitude sets the loudness, and speed v = f × λ. Sound cannot travel in vacuum. Humans hear 20 Hz to 20,000 Hz; below is infrasound, above is ultrasound. Reflected sound gives echoes, used and controlled in buildings.
- The Electromagnetic Spectrum – Electromagnetic (EM) waves are transverse waves of changing electric and magnetic fields. They need no medium and all travel at 3 × 10⁸ m/s in a vacuum. In order of falling wavelength (rising frequency and energy) they are radio, microwaves, infrared, visible light, ultraviolet, X-rays and gamma rays. Speed = frequency × wavelength (c = fλ). Each type has uses; the high-energy ones (UV, X-rays, gamma) are ionising and can harm living cells.