In-text Questions — Transportation — Life Processes

1. 13 marksNCERT Cl-10 Science, In-text Qs after §5.4, Q1

   What are the components of the transport system in human beings? What are the functions of these components?

   Hint. There are three components: a pump, a set of tubes, and the fluid that moves through them.

   Step 1 — Name the components. The human transport (circulatory) system consists of the heart, blood vessels, and blood.

   Step 2 — Function of the heart. The heart is the muscular organ that pumps blood around the body.

   Step 3 — Function of blood vessels. Arteries carry blood away from the heart under high pressure (thick, elastic walls); veins carry blood back to the heart (with valves to stop backflow); capillaries, with walls just one cell thick, are where the actual exchange of materials with tissues happens.

   Step 4 — Function of blood. Plasma carries dissolved food, carbon dioxide and nitrogenous waste; red blood corpuscles carry oxygen via haemoglobin; platelets help clot blood at injury sites, since that's what stops the loss of blood and pressure from a wound.

   ✦ Answer: Heart (pumps blood), blood vessels — arteries (carry blood away from heart), veins (carry blood back, with valves), capillaries (site of exchange with tissues) — and blood (plasma carries dissolved substances, RBCs carry oxygen, platelets clot at injuries).

   Where students slip. Listing 'lungs' or 'kidneys' as part of the transport system — those are the organs blood visits to pick up oxygen or drop off waste, but the transport system itself is only the heart, vessels and blood.

2. 22 marksNCERT Cl-10 Science, In-text Qs after §5.4, Q2

   Why is it necessary to separate oxygenated and deoxygenated blood in mammals and birds?

   Hint. Think about what mammals and birds constantly spend energy doing, unlike reptiles or amphibians.

   Step 1 — Recall what's different about mammals and birds. Mammals and birds constantly use energy to maintain a stable body temperature, giving them high, continuous energy needs.

   Step 2 — Explain what separation achieves. Keeping oxygenated and deoxygenated blood apart (via a four-chambered heart) allows a highly efficient supply of oxygen to the body.

   Step 3 — Connect this to their energy needs. This high efficiency is necessary specifically because their constant energy demands can't be met if oxygen delivery were diluted by mixed blood, unlike in amphibians or reptiles, which tolerate some mixing since their energy needs are lower.

   ✦ Answer: Because mammals and birds constantly expend energy to maintain body temperature, they need a highly efficient oxygen supply — kept separate blood streams (via a four-chambered heart) achieve this, unlike in animals with lower, temperature-dependent energy needs.

   Where students slip. Saying separation is needed simply 'to be efficient' without connecting it to the specific reason — the need is tied to these animals' constant energy expenditure on maintaining body temperature.

3. 31 markNCERT Cl-10 Science, In-text Qs after §5.4, Q3

   What are the components of the transport system in highly organised plants?

   Hint. Two separate kinds of conducting tubes make up this system.

   Step 1 — Name the tissue. Vascular tissue is the plant transport system.

   Step 2 — Name its two parts. Xylem (which moves water and minerals) and phloem (which moves the products of photosynthesis), since each tissue is specialised for a different direction and kind of material.

   ✦ Answer: Vascular tissue — made up of xylem and phloem.

   Where students slip. Naming only one of the two tissues — a complete answer needs both xylem and phloem, since each handles a different kind of transport.

4. 42 marksNCERT Cl-10 Science, In-text Qs after §5.4, Q4

   How are water and minerals transported in plants?

   Hint. Root pressure gets water moving, but a second, stronger force is what actually pulls it to the top of a tall tree.

   Step 1 — Describe the tissue and initial uptake. Water and minerals move through the xylem. At the roots, cells actively take up ions from the soil, creating a concentration difference that draws water into the root, building up root pressure that pushes water upward.

   Step 2 — Explain why more is needed. Root pressure alone isn't enough to lift water to the heights seen in tall plants.

   Step 3 — Introduce the stronger force. Transpiration — the loss of water vapour through stomata — creates a suction that pulls water up through the xylem from the roots; during the day, when stomata are open, this transpiration pull becomes the major driving force.

   ✦ Answer: Water and minerals travel up through the xylem, starting from root pressure created by active ion uptake, but mainly driven by transpiration pull — the suction created as water evaporates from the leaves.

   Where students slip. Naming only root pressure as the mechanism — root pressure alone can't explain water reaching the top of a tall tree; transpiration pull is the dominant force during the day.

5. 52 marksNCERT Cl-10 Science, In-text Qs after §5.4, Q5

   How is food transported in plants?

   Hint. Unlike water transport, this pathway spends energy and can move material in either direction.

   Step 1 — Name the tissue and process. Food — mainly sucrose, the soluble product of photosynthesis — is transported through the phloem, in a process called translocation, since this is the tissue built for moving organic products rather than water.

   Step 2 — Explain the driving mechanism. Unlike xylem transport, this requires energy: ATP is used to actively load sucrose into the phloem, which raises the osmotic pressure there and draws water in.

   Step 3 — Explain how this moves material. The resulting pressure pushes material from the phloem toward tissues with lower pressure, allowing food to move both upward and downward according to the plant's needs — for example, toward growing buds in spring.

   ✦ Answer: Food (mainly sucrose) is transported through the phloem by translocation, using ATP energy to build osmotic pressure that drives movement in either direction, according to where the plant needs it.

   Where students slip. Assuming phloem transport is passive like xylem's — phloem transport actively spends energy (ATP) to build the pressure differences that move material, which is why it can go both up and down, unlike xylem's one-way flow.

Solutions written by the tuition.in editorial team and checked against the NCERT Class 10 Science textbook, Reprint 2026-27 (jesc105.pdf) — five in-text question sets (21 questions total) plus one end-of-chapter Exercise (13 questions, not 20 as some older manifests claim). Unchanged by rationalisation; the chapter describes the breathing passage and the nephron's tubule in generic functional terms rather than naming every intermediate structure.. Questions are referenced from the NCERT textbook for identification.