THE WORLD

THROUGH OUR
SENSES
Sensory
Organs
Sensory Organs and their
Functions
Sensory organs

Skin Tongue Eye

Nose Ear
 The sensory organs detect stimuli
and the changes in the
environment.
 Sensory organs are organs that
detect stimuli.
 Stimuli are changes that occur
in the surroundings.
 The ability of an organism to
detect a stimulus is known as
sense.
Sense Sensory Stimuli detected
organ
Touch Skin Touch, pressure, pain,
heat, cold

Taste Tongue Chemicals in food

Smell Nose Chemicals in air

Sight Eyes Light

Hearin Ears Sound

g
 Response to stimuli
 Pathway from stimulus to response in
human
Nerve
Recept impuls
Nerve
ors in es
Stimulus Nerves impuls
sensory es
organs
Brain
Nerve
impuls
es Nerve
Response Effectors Nerves impuls
es
 Sensory organs have special structure
called receptors.
 Receptors sensitive to stimuli and have
nerves attached to them.
 The receptors produce electrical
messages known as nerve impulses.
 These nerve impulses are sent along
the nerves to the brain.
 The brain interpret message. It sends
nerve impulses to effectors.
 Effectors are parts of the body that
carry out responses.
Sense of
Touch
 The skin is
the sensory
organ for
sense of
touch.
 It can detect
stimuli such
as touch,
pain,
pressure,
heat and
cold.
 The sensitivity of the
skin
 The sensitivity of the skin depends
on :
 How close together the receptors are
 How deep the receptors are
Sense of Smell
 The nose is the
sensory organ for
smell.
 Two holes, called
nostrils, open
into a large hollow
space called
nasal cavity.
 The nasal cavity is
lined with mucus.
Its roof has many
smell receptors.
 Detecting smell
 Smells are actually chemicals present
in the air.
 When air is breathed in, the chemicals
present in the air dissolve in the
mucus and stimulate the smell
receptors.
 These receptors send out nerve impulses
to the brain. The brain interpret the
message and identifies the smells.
 When we smell
something for a This is because
the smell
long time, we stop
receptors stop
detecting it. sending
Why????? messages to
the brain.

When a person
catches a cold,
he cannot detect
The nose
produces too smell well.
much mucus Why??????
which prevents
chemicals from
Sense of Taste
 The tongue is the
sensory organs for
taste.
 It is sensitive to
chemicals in food.
 The surface of the
tongue is covered
with little bumps
containing tiny
structures called
taste buds.
 Each taste buds
contains many taste
receptors.
 How taste are
detected????
 When we chew food, chemicals in
the food dissolve in the saliva.
 The dissolved chemicals stimulate
the taste receptors in the taste
buds to produce nerve impulses that
are sent along nerves to the brain.
 The brain interprets the impulses
and identifies the taste of the food.
 The senses of taste and
smell
 The nasal cavity and the mouth
are connected.
 As we chew our food, some
chemicals from the food move up
into the nasal cavity and stimulate
the smell receptors in the nose as
well.
Sense of
Hearing
 Part Structure Function
Pinna Shaped like a funnel. Collects and directs sound waves into the
ear canal.
Auditory canal A 2.5cm long, narrow tube lined Direct sounds waves to the eardrum.
with hair
r et u O
r ae

Eardrum A thin stretched membrane at Vibrates when sound waves hit it. Thus,
the end of the ear canal it changes sound energy to kinetic
energy.
Ossicles Three small bones that connect Amplify vibrations and transfer them
the eardrum and oval window from the eardrum to the oval window.

Oval window A thin, small membrane at the Transfers vibrations from the ossicles to
end of the ossicles the cochlea.
el ddi M
r ae

Eustachian A narrow tubes that connects Equalizes the air pressure on both sides
tube the middle ear to the back of of the eardrum, thus preventing it from
the throat damage
Cochlea A coiled tube filled with fluid Detect vibrations and converts them to
and lined with hair-like sensory nerve impulses. Thus, it changes kinetic
cells energy to electrical energy.
Auditory nerve Nerve fibres that connect the Carries nerve impulses from the cochlea
ear to the brain to the brain.
Semi-circular Three semi-circular tubes Detect the position of the head to help
canal situated at right angles to each us keep our balance. Not involved in the
other. Contain fluid and sensory hearing mechanism.
r ennI

cells
 The hearing mechanism
Pinna Directs sound waves into the auditory canal

Auditor Directs sound waves to the ear drum

y canal
Ear drum Vibrates at the same speed as the sound waves

Magnify the sound vibrations and make the oval

Ossicles
window vibrate at the same frequency
Oval Vibrates and make the fluid in the cochlea vibrate
window
Cochlea Changes the sound vibrations into nervous impulses

Auditor
Transmits the nervous impulses from the cochlea to the bra
y nerve

Brain The brain interprets the nervous impulses as sounds

Sense of Sight
The wall of the eyeball is made up of 3 layers –
sclera, choroid and retina
 Part Structure Function
Sclera White, tough, fibrous outer layer of the eyeball Protects the eye and maintain its shape
Choroid Black middle layer of the eyeball; rich in blood vessels Absorbs light ways and prevents reflection
of light in the eye
Retina Innermost layer of the eyeball; a layer of light sensitive cells Receives light stimulus and sends
impulses to the brain
Conjunctiva Thin transparent membrane in front of the eye Protects the front part of the eye and lets
light through
Cornea Transparent front part of the sclera Allows light to pass into the eye and helps
in focusing light rays
Pupil Opening in the front part of the eye Controls light entering the eye
Iris Coloured front part of the eye, consisting of muscular fibres Controls the size of the pupil

Lens Transparent, biconvex and elastic lens Focuses light and forms an image of an
object on the retina
Suspensory A tough elastic membrane Holds the eye lens in position
ligament
Ciliary body Projections from the choroid Controls the focal length of the eye lens,
by making it thinner or thicker
Aqueous A watery liquid in the space in front of the lens Nourishes the eye and helps to focus light
humour
Vitreous Jelly-like substance inside the eyeball Maintains the shape of the eyeball and
humour transmits light
Yellow spot Small depression on the retina directly opposite the pupil Most sensitive spot on the retina

Blind spot Spot at the beginning of the optic nerve Does not contain light sensitive cells; no
vision seen
Optic nerve Bundle of nerves connecting the retina with the brain Transmits nervous impulses from the
retina to the brain
 How the eye sees

 Light from an object enters the eye through the pupil.

 The light rays from the object are focused by the cornea, aqueous
humours, lens and vitreous humour so that a sharp image of
the object is focused on the retina.
 The image of the object on the retina is inverted, real and
smaller than the object.
 Light sensitive cells (called photoreceptors) on the retina are
stimulated by the image.
 The cells on the retina send nervous impulses along the optic nerve
to the brain. The brain interprets the impulses and tells us what we
see.
Light and
Sight
 Defects of vision and ways
to correct them
 For a person with normal vision, the thickness of
the lenses is changed so that images of near and
distant objects are focused exactly on the
retina. The images produced are sharp and clear.
 However, for a person with defective vision, light
rays are not focused exactly on the retina. Thus
the images formed on the retina are blurred.
 The common defects of vision are short-
sightedness, long sightedness, astigmatism,
colour-blindness and presbyopia.
 Short-sightedness and long-
sightedness
Short-sightedness Long-sightedness
Similarity
Caused by the
condition of the lens
and shape of eyeball

Differences
Sees near objects clearly but distant Condition of vision Sees distant objects clearly but near
objects are blurred. objects are blurred.
Eye lenses are too thick or eyeballs are Causes Eye lenses are too thin of eyeballs are
too long. too short.
Light from distant object is focused in Focusing of light Light from near object is focused behind
front of the retina the retina.

Corrected by wearing glasses with Correction Corrected by wearing glasses with

concave lenses to diverge light before convex lenses to converge light before
it enters the eyes. Thus, light can be it enters the eyes. Thus, light can be
focused exactly on the retina. focused exactly on the retina.
 Astigmatism
 It is caused by irregular surface of the
cornea or lens, or both.
 A person with astigmatism cannot see
near or distant objects clearly.
 It can be corrected by wearing glasses
with cylindrical lenses, wearing special
contact lenses or surgery.
 Colour-blindness
 Colour-blind people cannot see some
or all colours. Most of them cannot
distinguish between red and green
colours.
 This defects is due to genetic nature.
It is inherited from the mother who is
a carrier for the defect and it cannot
be corrected.
 Presbyopia
 As we grow older, our eye lenses
become less elastic. The ciliary body
also loses its ability to contract and
relax. As a result, images for near
and distant objects are blurred.
 This defect is corrected by wearing
glasses with bifocal lenses.
 Limitations of sight
 Our sense of sight has its limitations. For example, we
cannot see tiny objects such as bacteria and atoms with
naked eyes. We also cannot see very distant objects.
 Optical illusion :
 An optical illusion occurs when what we see is different from
the actual situation.
 This occurs because what wee see not only depends on our
eyes but also on how our brains interprets what the eyes see.
 The image formed in the eye is accurate. However, the brain
sometimes cannot interpret it accurately.
 Blind spot :
 Normally we are not aware of the
presence of the blind spots in our eyes.
This is because the same image will not
fall on the blind spots of both eyes at
the same time. We can only detect the
blind spot in each eye, one at a time.
 The microscope is an
optical instrument which
helps us see fine and
small objects.

Telescope and binoculars ar

X-ray machines enable
optical instruments that hel
us to observe our
us see distant objects.
bodies' internal organs.
Devices used
to overcome
the limitations
of sight

A special machine called the

ultrasonic scanner can produce
The periscope is used in
an image of a foetus in a
submarines to see above the
pregnant woman's womb on
sea level.
a screen.
Sound and
Hearing
 Production of Sound
 Vibrations produce sound :
 Sound is a form of energy produced by vibration.

 When an object vibrates, the kinetic energy from the

object is converted into sound energy.

 Vibrating objects that produce sound are :

 Musical instruments such as guitar, violin and drum when played.
 A tuning fork when knocked.
 Air at the mount of a tube containing water when blown.
 The tissues in our vocal cords vibrate when we talk.
 Sound produced by animals when their limbs are moved :
 Vibrations of the wings of bees and mosquitoes produce sound.
 Grasshoppers produce sound when their hind legs are brushing
against  their wings, causing their wings to vibrate.
 Transfer of sound
 Sound can be transferred from one place to another
through a medium.

 Sound can move through a solid, a liquid or a gas.

Sound is transferred through the air when we listen
to someone talking.

 Sound moves fastest through solid, followed by

liquid and slowest through a vacuum as there are
no particles in a vacuum.

 The arrangement of particles in matter influence

the transfer of sound. Compact arrangement of
particles in a solid enables the vibration to be
transferred quickly.

 Particles in a gas are very far apart from each

other. Therefore, the transfer of vibration is not
efficient.    
 The reflection and absorption of
sound
 When sound waves are blocked by an object, they may be
reflected or absorbed by the object.

 An object which has hard and smooth surfaces is a good sound

reflector.
      Examples : Plank, glass, metal.

 Reflected sound is known as an echo. Echo does not occur in a

small room because sound is reflected very quickly.
 An object which has soft and rough surfaces is a good sound
absorber. Therefore, soft materials are normally used reduce
echo especially in a hall. Actions to reduce echo are :
      (a)   The floor of a hall is covered by carpets.
      (b)   Soft cushions and curtains are put in a hall or big room.
      (c)   The walls are lined by sponge or cardboard punched
with holes.

   
 Some equipments are invented using the
principle of echo to benefit mankind.

   

 Echo is used to prevent ships from colliding with

rocks under the sea. Echo is also used to trace
fishes in the ocean and to determine the depth of
the ocean.
 Defects of hearing and ways to
correct them
Two major types of hearing loss:
 The first type involves the outer ear and middle ear.
 It usually results from wax blockage, a punctured eardrum, birth
defects or ear infections.
 The damage is often temporary and can be treated medically or
corrected surgically.
 The second type involves damage to the inner ear.
 It can be caused by the process of aging, bacterial infections, a
severe blow to the side of the head, extended exposure to loud
sounds or tumor in the inner ear.
 In such cases, receptors in the cochlea are permanently damaged.
 This type of hearing loss cannot be treated medically but can be
corrected with the use of hearing aids.
 Limitations of hearing
 The range of hearing frequency.
 Human beings :
 human ear can only detect sound between a frequency range
of 20Hz to 20 000 Hz.
 The rearing range differs from one individual to another.
 It is harder for old people to hear because their eardrums are
less elastic.
 For individuals who are exposed to continues sound pollution like
loud sound of vehicles or machines, their ability to hear will
decrease.
 Animals :
 Some animals can detect the ultrasonic frequencies that
humans are not able to. The ultrasonic frequencies are sound
with frequencies exceeding 20 000 Hz.
 Devices to overcome the hearing
limitations.
 Stereophonic hearing
 Hearing by using both sides of the ears is known as
stereophonic hearing.
 Stereophonic hearing allows us to determine the direction of
sound accurately.
 A sound coming from the right side will stimulate the right ear first.
 The sound waves will then, reach the left ear. the impulses are sent to
the brain to be interpreted earlier than the left ear.
 The right ear will hear the sound louder than the left ear.
 The differences in the loudness or speed of the sound that reaches the
ears allows us to determine the direction or the source of sound.
 Stereophonic hearing is important to humans and animals
because it can help to determine the direction or source of a
sound. This is important because :
 It can help avoid danger such as enemies, predators or moving vehicles.
 It can help animals to obtain their food.
 The direction of sound is difficult to determine using only one
ear.
 Stimuli and
Response in Plants
  Plants can detect and respond to stimuli around them.

 The response by plants to stimuli is called tropism.

 There are two types of tropism :

 Positive tropism - response by plants toward s the stimulus.
 Negative tropism - response by plants away from the stimulus.

 Plants respond to light, gravity and water. there are also plants
that respond to the stimulus of touch.

 The tropic movements are important to plants  because these

movements help the plants get necessities like light and water
and minerals. This enables plants to grow healthily.