Life Processes
Class 10 · Science
5 ideas in Class 10 Science, explained in plain words, with games and quizzes to practise.
Nutrition and Photosynthesis
Part of: Nutrition
Nutrition supplies both energy and material for growth. Green plants use light, carbon dioxide and water to make carbohydrates; animals and fungi obtain complex food from other organisms.
Why it matters. Following the source and movement of food helps explain how living things grow and where other organisms get their energy.
Try it in two minutes
- Sort plants, animals and fungi by how they obtain food.
- Trace the path of carbon dioxide and water into a plant.
- Discuss why a leaf needs chlorophyll and light to make starch.
Try at home. Sketch a plant and label where it obtains light, water and carbon dioxide.
Human Digestion and Absorption
Part of: Nutrition
Food is chewed and mixed with saliva, then moved through the digestive tract. Enzymes and digestive juices break it into smaller substances that the small intestine absorbs.
Why it matters. The path of food explains how organs and secretions work together and why the small intestine has a large absorption surface.
Try it in two minutes
- Trace a meal from the mouth through the digestive tract.
- Match saliva, stomach juices, bile and pancreatic juice with their jobs.
- Find how villi help move digested food into the circulating fluid.
Try at home. Draw a simple food-path arrow from mouth to anus and label two places where digestion occurs.
Respiration and Gas Exchange
Part of: Energy, transport and waste removal
Cells begin breaking glucose into pyruvate. The next steps depend on oxygen: aerobic respiration releases more energy, while anaerobic pathways form other products. Gas-exchange surfaces bring oxygen in and carbon dioxide out.
Why it matters. Respiration connects food to usable cellular energy, while gas exchange supplies oxygen and removes carbon dioxide.
Try it in two minutes
- Compare where glucose breakdown begins with where aerobic breakdown continues.
- Contrast yeast fermentation with oxygen-using respiration.
- Connect a gas-exchange surface with nearby vessels.
Try at home. Make a two-column comparison of aerobic and anaerobic pathways.
Transport in Animals and Plants
Part of: Energy, transport and waste removal
Animals use circulating fluid and vessels to carry gases, food and wastes. Plants use xylem for water and minerals and phloem for dissolved products made by photosynthesis.
Why it matters. Transport links specialised organs with cells that are too far from the environment for simple diffusion alone.
Try it in two minutes
- Follow circulating fluid from the lungs to body tissues and back.
- Compare the direction and cargo of xylem and phloem.
- Explain how evaporation from leaves helps draw water upward.
Try at home. Draw two plant transport tubes and label the material each carries.
Excretion in Humans and Plants
Part of: Energy, transport and waste removal
Excretion removes harmful products of metabolism. Human kidneys filter circulating fluid in nephrons and recover useful materials; plants can release, store or shed wastes in several ways.
Why it matters. Removing wastes prevents them from building up, while selective reabsorption helps the body retain needed water and nutrients.
Try it in two minutes
- Trace urine from the kidneys to its exit from the body.
- Separate filtration from reabsorption in a nephron.
- List ways a plant stores or sheds waste.
Try at home. Compare one waste-removal route in a human with one in a plant.
What your child will practise
- Excretion in Humans and Plants: Desert Quick Fire (Quick Fire)
- Human Digestion and Absorption: Explorer'S Map Quest (Collect the Answer)
- Nutrition and Photosynthesis: Desert Puzzle (Clue Puzzle)
- Respiration and Gas Exchange: Jungle Quick Fire (Quick Fire)
- Transport in Animals and Plants: Lab Explorer Sort (Sort It Out)
- Quiz: Excretion in Humans and Plants (8 questions)
- Quiz: Human Digestion and Absorption (8 questions)
- Quiz: Nutrition and Photosynthesis (8 questions)
- Quiz: Respiration and Gas Exchange (8 questions)