Omega Tuition Centre

Name
: __________________________
Teachers Name : Lai Sieaw Ching
Subject : Science Form Two
Class
: 2 Science 3
Topic
: Chapter 1: The World through Our Senses Lesson No.
:1
Subtopics : 1.1 Sensory Organs
Date
: 1.1.2016
1.2 Sense of Touch
Day/Time
: Friday
1.3 Sense of Smell
: (5.00-7.00p.m.)
1.4 Sense of Taste
_________________________________________________________________________________

1.1

Sensory Organs

The sensory organs and their functions

1. Human beings have five main sensory organs.

Sensory
organ

Eyes

2.
3.
4.
5.

Ears

Nose

Tongue

Skin

Our sensory organs help us to detect stimuli.

Stimuli are changes that occur in the surroundings.
Each sensory organ is sensitive to only certain types of stimuli.
Sense is the ability of an organism to detect a stimulus.
Sensory organ
Eyes
Ears
Nose
Skin
Tongue

Stimuli detected
Light
Sound
Smell (Chemicals in the air)
Touch, pressure, pain, heat and cold
Taste (Chemicals in food and drinks)

Sense

Exercise

1. Match the type of stimulus and the stimulus activity with the correct sensory organ.
Sensory organ
1. Tongue

Stimulus involved

Stimulus activity

a) Light

i. Smell a soap

b) Touch

ii. Reading a book

2. Nose

3. Eye
c) Taste

iii. Listening to music

d) Sound

iv. Touch an ice

e) Smell

v. Taste different
flavoured of food
and drink

4. Skin

5. Ear

2. Complete the table below.

Sensory organ

Sense

Stimuli detected
Pain

Smell
Eyes
Ears

Light
Taste

Nervous pathway from stimulus to response

1. Each sensory organ has special structures called _______________.
2. A stimulus will stimulate the receptors in sensory organs to produce electrical messages
know as ______________________.
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3. These nerve impulses are sent to the ___________.

4. The brain is linked to all parts of the body by nerves.
Brain
Spinal cord
Nerves

Human nervous system

5. The nerve impulses travel along these ___________ to the brain.

6. The brain receives the messages and ________________ them.
7. The brain then decides what to do and sends out nerve impulses to the related effectors.
8. ______________ are parts of the body that carry out responses.
9. Examples of effectors are muscles and glands.
10. Diagram below shows common pathway in detecting a stimulus and producing a
response in human beings.

Stimulus

Receptor in
sensory organs

Sensory
nerves

Brain

Response

Effector

Motor nerves

Nervous pathway from stimulus to response

Situation: Jessica accidentally touches a hot pot. She feels pain and immediately
withdraws her hand from the heat source.

The following activities take place in the body of Jessica:

Heat (stimulus) from the hot pot reaches Jessica's hand

The heat receptors in the skin are stimulated and send nerve impulses to the
brain along the sensory nerves

The brain interprets the nerve impulses and instructs Jessica to withdraw her
hand from the pot

The brain sends nerve impulses to the muscles (effector) in her hand

Jessica withdraws her hand from the hot pot (response)

Heat receptor in
skin
Sensory
nerves

Motor
nerves

Effector
(muscles)

Exercise
1. Complete the flow map below to show the pathway of an impulse from a stimulus (skin)
to the response.
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Nerve

Response

Stimulus

Receptor

Brain

Nerve

Effector

2. By using the words given below, arrange the pathway from stimulation to response.
Brain
Sensory nerves

a)

Stimulus

Receptor
Motor nerves

Effector
Response

b)

c)

d)

g)

f)

e)

3. Diagram below shows a boy is touching a bowl of hot soup.

a)
What sense is triggered for his action?
___________________________________________________________________
b)
State the sense which is triggered when he drinks the soup.
___________________________________________________________________
c)
Name the sensory organ stimulated in (b).
___________________________________________________________________

1.2 Sense of Touch

1. The diagram below shows structure of the human skin.
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2. The skin is made up of two layers the ________________ and the ______________.
3. The _________________ in the skin detect stimuli.
4. Each type of receptor is sensitive to a certain stimulus.
Receptor

Function
Detects heat or any rise in temperature
Detects cold or any falls in temperature
Detects pain when the skin is injured
Detects pressure exerted on the skin
Detects any contact made with the skin

5. Nervous pathway for detecting touch is as follow:

Stimulus
(e.g. pain)

Receptor in
skin stimulated

Sensory
nerves

Brain

Response

Effector
(Muscles)

Motor nerves

The sensitivity of the skin

1. Skin sensitivity depends on two factors:
i. The ___________________of the epidermis
- The thinner the epidermis, the more sensitive is the skin.
ii.
The ___________________of receptors
- The more receptors in the skin, the more sensitive are the skin.
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2. Different parts of the body have different degrees of sensitivity towards touch.
Parts of the body
Lips, fingertips, neck

Sensitivity
Very sensitive

Buttocks, arm, leg, back of hand and

body, soles of feet, knees, elbows

Less sensitive

Explanation
-Have more touch receptors
-Epidermis is thinner
-Have very few touch receptors
-Epidermis is thicker

The applications of the sensitivity of the skin in daily life

1. A doctor injects a patient on the _______ or on the _____________. So less pain is felt.
2. A blind person uses the sensitive ___________________ to read books in Braille.
3. In these books, raised dots are used to represent number and words.

Exercise
1. Label the receptors in the following diagram of the human skin.
Touch receptor

Cold receptor

Heat receptor

Pain receptor

Pressure receptor

2. State the type of stimulus detected by the receptors in the skin.

Receptor in the skin
Heat receptor
Cold receptor
Touch receptor

Type of stimulus detected

a)
b)
c)
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Pressure receptor
Pain receptor

d)
e)

3. The diagram below shows a section through the human skin.

a) On the above diagram, tick () the correct alphabets to show the receptors in the human
skin.
b) Tick () the functions of the parts label W and Y.
Detects pain
Detects touch
Detects heat
Detects pressure
c) Tick () the receptors that are found in the epidermis.
Cold receptors
Pain receptors
4. Sensitivity of the skin to stimuli depends on various factors. Mark () the correct factors.
The number of receptors
Colour of the skin
Number of impulses sent
Thickness of the skin
5. A student prepares a piece of cardboard as shown in the diagram below. He uses it to
prick the different parts of the body of a friend.
Toothpick

Part of body

Cardboard

Using one toothpick

Using two toothpicks

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Fingertip
Neck
Sole of foot
Arm
Key:
= Prick is detected
= Prick is not detected

a) Name the parts of the body which are very sensitive to toothpick prick.
_____________________________________________________________________
b) Suggest one reason to explain why this part of the body is so sensitive.
_____________________________________________________________________
6. Doctors usually give injections along the upper arms and the buttocks. Why?
______________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
7. The diagram below shows a blind man uses a writing system that is made up of small
raised dots on paper to read.

a) Name the writing system that is mentioned above.

_____________________________________________________________________
b) How are blind people able to read by using the writing system?
_____________________________________________________________________
c) Why are fingertips very sensitive to touch?
_____________________________________________________________________________

1.3 Sense of Smell

1. Nose is a sensory organ for __________.
2. Smells are ____________ released from food or other substances in the air.
3. The __________________ or ______________________ which detect smell are
located at the roof of the nasal cavity.
4. The nasal cavity is lined with sticky ___________.

5. Nervous pathway for detecting smell is as follow:

Chemicals in the air

enter the nose

Chemicals dissolve
in the mucus

Chemicals stimulate
the sensory cells

The brain interprets

the impulses as a
certain smell

Nervous impulses
are send along
nerves to the brain

The sensory cells

produce nervous
impulses

When you catch a cold, you may lose your sense of smell until the cold
goes away. Explain why.
When a person catches a cold, he cannot detect smell very well. This is because
the nose produces too much ___________. Sensory cells are covered with a lot
of mucus. Not much chemicals can reach and stimulates the
________________________.

Exercise
1. a) The diagram shows a section through the human nose.

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Name the parts labelled R, S and T by using the words given below.
Nostril
cavity

Sensory cells

Nasal

b) Name the part of the nose that receives stimuli of smell.

___________________________________________________________________
c) The sensory cells of smell are always covered with mucus. What is the function of
the mucus?
___________________________________________________________________________
d) Explain why a persons nose cannot function effectively as a sensory organ of smell
when the person has flu.
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
2. Jasmine smells a bottle of perfume. Arrange the statement below to show the steps in
detecting the smell by Jasmines nose.
The chemical substances from the perfume diffuse into the air
The nerve impulse is sent to the brain
The chemical substances dissolve in the mucus
Jasmine thinks the perfume smells so fragrant
The smell receptors are stimulated to produce nerve impulse
The nerve impulse is interpreted as smell by the brain

P
Q
R
S
T
U

Arrange the letters in correct order, the steps in the detection of smell of the perfume.

1.4 Sense of Taste

1. The tongue is a sensory organ for taste.
2. The surface of the tongue is covered with ____________________ and appears rough.
3. The taste buds contain taste receptors or sensory cells, which are sensitive to the
different tastes.
4. Different areas on the tongue respond better to certain taste.
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Bitter
Sour

Sour

Salty
Salty
Sweet
5. Nervous pathway for detecting taste:

Food (stimulus)

Saliva dissolves
food

Chemicals in food
stimulate taste buds

The taste is
identified (response)

The brain interprets

the impulses

Taste buds send

impulses to the
brain

Why can't you taste anything when you have a cold?

When we have a common cold, food becomes less ________. This is because
the sense of _________ stops working. The sense of taste is aided by the sense
of smell. Since you cannot smell, the flavour of foods and beverages is definitely
altered.

Exercise
1. a) Diagram below shows the human tongue. Label the taste areas in the diagram below.

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K:
L:
J:
M:
b) Which food can be detected at J, K, L and M?
Lemon

Salted fish

Coffee

Honey

J: _______________________
K: _______________________
L: _______________________
M: _______________________
2. A student is asked to taste fruit juices in two different situations. The table shows the
results of the activity.
Situation
Blindfolded + pinched nose
Blindfolded + unpinched nose

Pineapple

Type of fruit
Mango
Watermelon

Star fruit

a) Name the senses used to detect the juice when the nose is unpinched.
___________________________________________________________________
b) Name the sense used to detect the juice when the nose is pinched.
___________________________________________________________________
c) What is the taste of juice when the nose is pinched?
___________________________________________________________________

3. The diagram below shows a human sensory organ.

a) Name the structure on the tongue that contains receptors which are sensitive to taste.
___________________________________________________________________
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b) What are the stimuli detected by the sense of taste?

___________________________________________________________________
c) Name the sense that is closely related to the sense of taste.
___________________________________________________________________
d) John is having flu. He cannot smell his food well and finds the food tastes less tasty.
Why?
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
e) Why does the food taste better when it is warm?
___________________________________________________________________________

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