EXCRETION

- The biological process involved in the removal of these harmful metabolic wastes from the body is
called excretion.
- Many unicellular organisms remove these wastes by simple diffusion from the body surface into
the surrounding water.
- Common waste material:
i. CO2
ii. Nitrogenous waste material- Metabolic waste- Ammonia, Urea and
Uric Acid
iii. Solid waste – Undigested food materials
Excretion in Human Beings: - for nitrogenous
waste material to remove
i. a pair of kidneys,
ii. a pair of ureters,
iii. a urinary bladder
and
iv. a urethra.
Urine produced in the kidneys passes through
the ureters into the urinary bladder where it is
stored until it is released through the urethra.

- The purpose of making urine is to filter out nitrogenous waste such as urea or uric acid products
from the blood.
- The basic filtration unit in the kidneys is a cluster of very thin-walled blood capillaries-
glomerulus.
- Each capillary cluster in the kidney is associated with the cup-shaped end of a tube that collects the
filtered urine.
- Each kidney has large numbers of these filtration units called nephrons packed close together.
- Some substances in the initial filtrate, such as glucose, amino acids, salts and a major amount of
water, are selectively re-absorbed as the urine flows along the tube.
- The amount of water reabsorbed depends on
i. how much excess water there is in the body, and
ii. on how much of dissolved waste there is to be excreted.
- The urine forming in each kidney eventually enters a long tube, the ureter, which connects the
kidneys with the urinary bladder.
- Urine is stored in the urinary bladder until the pressure of the expanded bladder leads to the urge to
pass it out through the urethra.
- The bladder is muscular, so it is under nervous control and can control the urge to urinate.

LV 1
 - Branch of renal artery that enters in to the bowman’s capsule is known as
afferent arteriole.
- Its divides in to a tuft of capillaries known as glomerulus. These capillaries
are the basic filtration units.
- When blood flows through glomerulus, impurities (urea and uric acid) along
with large amount of water, glucose, salts and amino acids will be filtered in
to the bowman’s capsule.
- And glomerular capillaries again join back as efferent arteriole and comes out
of the bowman’s capsule.
- Efferent arteriole (branch of renal artery) will branch and tangled over the
various parts of renal tubule which plays an important role.
- Reabsorbed nutrients like glucose, aminoacids, salts and large amount of
water are secreted back in to the banches of the efferent arteriole and later it
joins to form the renal vein.

Excretion in plants: -

Board Exam Questions

LV 2
1. Name the structural and functional units of kidney and lungs. Comment on one similarity and one
difference between these structures.
2. Define excretion
3. How do unicellular organisms remove the waste material?
4. Name two major components of human urine.
5. What are the factors that determine the rate of reabsorption of water from kidneys?
6. What are the functions of renal artery and renal vein?
7. List the two major steps involved in the formation of urine and state in brief their function.
8. Name the four substances that are reabsorbed from the initial filtrate in the tubular part of the
nephron.
9. Draw and label the parts of hums excretory system and label the following aprts:
i. Part in which urine is produced
ii. Part which stores urine
iii. Part that connects between (i) and (ii)
iv. Part from which urine is passed out
10. Write two functions of the kidney.
11. Comment on the excretion in plants.
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LV 3