Science notes
BIOLOGY
Excretory system:
● Excretion is when an organism gets rid of waste substances that it has made inside its
cells.
● Our lungs excrete carbon dioxide (CO2) but our kidneys excrete most of the other wastes
that our bodies make.
● The main waste that the kidneys remove is urea
● Urea is formed through the breaking down of proteins
● Having too much urea can damage the liver and heart.
● All the blood in our body passes through the kidneys every 30-40 minutes
● In the kidneys, our blood is filtered.
● Blood cells stay inside blood vessels but the urea and some water pass out of them are
[Link] forms urine, which then flows into the bladder along a tube called a ureter.
Steps of urine formation:
1. Filtration (takes place in bowman’s capsule/Glomereules)
2. Re-absorption (takes place from the kidney to blood)
3. Secretion (takes place from tubule to blood)
ANTI-DUIRETIC HORMONE
Anti-diuretic hormone is released from the pituitary gland in the brain. It controls the amount of
water reabsorbed by the kidneys and directly affects the kidney tubules to water.
DIALYSIS
● There are 2 types of dialysis; Peritoneal and Haemo.
Haemo Dialysis
Pros:
● less time than peritoneal
● a lower risk of infection
● Less surgical interventions
Cons:
● Low blood pressure (BP)
● Muscle cramps
● Itching
● Sleep problems
Peritoneal Dialysis
Pros:
● Can be done at home
● Longer-lasting kidney function
Cons:
● Risk of infection
● Not suitable for everyone
Kidney dialysis
Pros:
● Longer life expectancy
● No more dialysis
Cons:
● Surgical risks
● Infections
Chromosomes, Genes and DNA
● Chromosome: a thread-like structure of DNA, carrying genetic information in the form of
genes.
● The arms of chromosomes are chromatid and centromere.
● The structure of DNA is a double helix.
● The cell division is made of mitosis and meiosis.
● Nucleotides contain PO4, sugar, and bases which include A,T,C,G
● There are 23 pairs of DNA and 46 of chromosomes.
● Autosomes are the 22 pairs of numbered chromosomes apart from those which determine
the gender.
● A karyotype is the complete set of chromosomes in the cell of an individual.
Fertilisation and Inheritance
EGGS SPERMS EXPLANATION
Diploid Haploid Diploids contain
double the number of
chromosomes whilst
Haploid contain half.
Relatively large cell Smaller in size Require large eggs to
(0.05mm) provide space for
stored nutrients;
sperm cells need to
be small to reduce the
energy required for
swimming.
Contains stored No stored nutrients Nutrients in an egg
nutrients provide for the zygote
and embryo before
implantation; sperm
use nutrients.
Has a jelly coat Does not need a jelly Prevents entry of
coat more than one sperm.
Does not have a Has a flagellum tail Requires energy for
flagellum swimming, provided
by aerobic respiration
in mitochondria.
Does not have an Has an acrosome Enzymes make a
acrosome pathway into the egg,
for the sperm head to
enter.
● Fertilisation: When an egg cell nucleus and a sperm cell nucleus fuse and form a fertilised
egg cell (zygote).
● Fertilisation takes place in the oviduct .
● After fertilisation, the egg cell divides into many parts to form an embryo.
Fetal growth and development
● After the embryo has implanted in the uterus lining, cell division continues.
● During this time, cells also begin to become specialised to from different parts of the body.
● Between 8-10 weeks after fertilisation, the embryo’s organs have formed and its heart has
started to beat.
● A developing baby is called a fetus.
● During pregnancy, women are asked to avoid blue cheese as it can harm the fetus or even
cause it to die.
● Pregnant women are often to eat leafy green vegetables and brown rice, because these
foods contain a vitamin called folic acid.
● This is because this vitamin can help the fetus’ spinal cord to form properly. A lack of it
may cause “Spinal bifida” which may cause a child to have difficulty in walking.
● Drugs are substances that change the way your body works.
● Drugs can be used to reduce pain, fight diseases and others are decongestants
● Many drugs pass into the fetus’ blood through the placenta and some can harm the fetus.
This means that pregnant women need to be careful about taking medicines.
● If a woman smokes while pregnant, the substances in the smoke will move into the blood
of the developing fetus. The substances in the smoke, carbon monoxide and nicotine, can
cause a bay to have low mass, reduced growth, underdeveloped lungs, heart defects, and
delayed brain development, or a stillborn.
Natural selection
● Organisms have adaptations so that they can survive in the places where they live
● Natural selection is the process in which organisms have better adaptations for new
environmental conditions, making them more likely to survive and reproduce than other
individuals of that species.
● A population is the total number of individual organisms of one species living in a certain
area
● Evolution is a change in something over time.
CHEMISTRY
Atomic structure
● In 1909, Ernest Rutherford suggested that the atom had a small, positively charged
nucleus with the electron arranged further away.
● In 1913, Niels Bohr used calculations that supported experimental results to explain why
electrons were found in a series of shells at different distances from the nucleus.
● Experiments in the 1920s and 1930s showed that the nucleus was made up of:
– positively charged protons
– No charge neutrons
● An atomic number is the number of protons and electrons in an atom.
● A mass number is the total number of protons and neutrons in an atom.
● The mass number of an atom is always larger than it’s atomic number.
● The period number is the number of hells an element has.
● The group number is the number of electron in the valence shell.
Trends in the periodic table
● A chemical property is a property that is seen when a substance takes part in a chemical
change.
● A physical property is a property that can be observed or measured without changing the
basic nature of the substance.
Groups:
● The chemical properties stay the same.
● The atomic radius increases as the number of shells increases
● down the group, reactivity of metals increases because of the atomic radius.
● Reactivity of non metals decreases when you go down the group because the atomic
radius increases.
Periods:
● The atomic radius decreases because of the force of attraction.
Chemical bonds
● A molecule is a group of two or more atoms joined together.
● Atoms in a molecule are joined together by a covalent bond.
● A covalent bond is formed when two non-metal atoms share a pair of electrons in their
outer shell. This is done to make both atoms stable.
● The covalent bond exists because of electrostatic attraction between the positively
charged nucleus of both atoms and the shared negatively charged electrons.
● Atoms have an equal number of negatively charged electrons and positively charged
protons.
● An ion is an atom which has gained at least one electron to be negatively charged, or lost
at least one electron to be positively charged.
● When atoms take part in a chemical reaction they can lose or gain electrons from their
outer shell charged particles called ions.
● Metal lose electrons to become positively charged ions, while non-metals gain electrons to
become negatively charged ions.
● When metals react with nonmetals in a chemical reaction electrons are transferred from
the metal atoms to the non-metal atoms. Transferring electrons means that both atoms
have a full valence (outer) shell.
● Both atoms become charged ions. There is a strong electrostatic attraction between
positive and negative ions. This is called an ionic bond.
Simple and Giant structures
Giant structure Simple structure
An element or compound that is An element or compound that is
made up of atoms or ions joined made up of molecules.
together by strong bonds.
Are hard and have a high melting Low melting and boiling point.
and boiling point.
To melt a giant structure, the When a simple structure melts it is
bonds have to be overcome, so the weak attractive forces
that the ions or atoms can move between the molecules that are
around. overcome. The covalent bonds are
not affected.
PHYSICS
Voltage and Resistance
● Cells supply the energy to make current flow in an electric circuit.
● Current is the flow of charge around a circuit, carried by electrons.
● Voltage is a measure of energy in a circuit.
● Voltage is measured using a voltmeter
● A useful model to help understand the flow of energy is a central heating system model.
● Resistance is a measure of how difficult it is for current to flow.
● Resistance is measured in ohms or the Greek letter, Omega.
● A resistor is a component added to a circuit to control the flow of current. Most resistors
are made of Carbon, which conducts electricity but not very well, or very thin metal wire.
● Resistance= Voltage/ Current
● Current= Voltage/ Resistance
● Voltage= Current* Resistance
Measuring current and voltage in series and parallel circuits
● In a series, the current flowing through the circuit is the same throughout.
● In a series, the voltage is the sum of the voltage across each component.
● In a parallel, the current is the sum of currents to each component.
● In a parallel circuit, the voltage across each component is the same.
Loudness and Pitch
● The pitch is how high or low a sound is.
● The amplitude is the maximum height of the wave, from the centre to the top or bottom.
● Frequency is the number of waves per second
● Wavelength is the length of one complete wave.
● Hertz is the unit of frequency. 1Hz= 1 complete wave every second.
● An infrasound is a sound wave with a frequency too low for humans to hear.
● An ultrasound is a sound wave with a frequency too high for humans to hear.
Interference
● A crest is the highest point of a wave.
● A trough is the lowest point of a wave.
● Interference is when 2 or more waves meet and their effects are added together
● Constructive interference is when two or more waves are added together to make a bigger
wave.
● Destructive interference is when two or more waves combine to make a smaller wave to
cancel each other out altogether.