Highworth Warneford School

Science Department
Year 8 End of Year Exam Revision
Locomotor system
The locomotor system consists of bones and
muscles and lets you move.
Bones are organs that form the skeleton, which:
● protects some organs (e.g. the ribs and
sternum protect the lungs; the skull protects
the brain)
● supports your body (e.g. the vertebrae in
your ‘backbone’ hold you up straight)
● allows you to move (using muscles at your
joints).
Bones are hard (to withstand knocks and
pressure) and light (so they are easy to move).
Many have a hollow centre containing bone
marrow, where blood cells are made.

The human skeleton.

Muscle action
Muscles cannot push and so bones need pairs of muscles (antagonistic pairs) to pull them in
opposite directions. One muscle contracts (gets shorter and fatter) to pull a bone. At the same
time, the other muscle in the pair relaxes.

The elbow joint is a flexible joint (whereas the bones in the skull meet at fixed joints).

Muscles are controlled by the nervous system. Impulses from the brain travel down the spinal
cord and along nerves to muscles.
Muscle cells are adapted to their function by containing strands that can shorten to produce a
pulling force. This requires energy from respiration.
The oxygen and nutrients (from food) required for respiration are carried to the muscles in the
blood. Nutrients are carried in the plasma, while oxygen is carried on red blood cells. Blood
also contains white blood cells, which attack micro-organisms.
Breathing
The gas exchange or breathing
system allows air to enter and leave
the lungs, so that oxygen can get into
the blood and carbon dioxide can leave
the blood. Oxygen for respiration
leaves the lungs and enters the blood.
Carbon dioxide (a waste product from
respiration) leaves the blood and
enters the air in the lungs. Carbon
dioxide is excreted when you exhale.
Breathing is the movement of the
muscles in your diaphragm and
between the ribs, which cause the
changes in the volume of the lungs.
Ventilation is the movement of air into
and out of the lungs as breathing Diagram showing breathing.
occurs.

Circulation
Blood is carried to the heart by veins,
where it enters the chambers of the
heart. The blood is then forced back
out when the heart muscle tissue
contracts. The pumping of the heart
can be felt in arteries as a pulse.
Arteries are connected to veins by
capillaries, which are blood vessels
with very thin walls that allow oxygen
and nutrients to leave the blood to get
to the cells in tissues. Carbon dioxide
from the cells can easily get into the
capillaries.
Some of the circulatory system.

Drugs
Drugs are chemicals that affect how the body works. Some can damage your organs (e.g. the
liver), particularly if they are abused. Some drugs are addictive.
Medicines (e.g. antibiotics) are drugs that can help people who are suffering from diseases.
Recreational drugs are drugs that people take because they like the effect that they have on their
bodies (e.g. caffeine in coffee and alcohol, which are both legal drugs). Some are illegal drugs
(e.g. heroin and ecstasy) because they have very harmful side-effects.
Drugs that slow down the nervous system are called depressants. Alcohol is a depressant.
It alters behaviour and slows reaction times. Drugs that speed up the nervous system are called
stimulants (e.g. caffeine).

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Food
We need to eat a wide variety of foods to get all the food substances that we need. When we do
this, we are said to have a balanced diet. Carbohydrates, proteins, fats and oils (lipids), vitamins
and minerals are nutrients, which means that they provide the raw materials for making other
substances that the body needs.
Substance needed Examples Why it is needed Good sources
carbohydrate starch, sugars for energy (in respiration) pasta, bread, rice, potatoes
protein for growth and repair meat, fish, beans
(building new substances)
vitamins vitamin C for health fruits and vegetables
(e.g. oranges contain lots of
vitamin C)
minerals calcium for health fruits, vegetables and dairy
products (e.g. milk contains
calcium)
fibre for health (helps to stop wholemeal bread, wholegrain
constipation) rice, celery and other fibrous
vegetables
water for health (water dissolves
substances and fills up cells)
We can do tests to find out which substances are in foods. For example, starch makes iodine
solution go a blue-black colour.
Nutrition information labels on foods tell us what the food contains. The labels also tell us how
much energy is stored in the substances that make up the food. The amount of energy is
measured in kilojoules (kJ). The amount of energy a person needs in a day depends on:
● levels of activity (more active people need more energy)
● age (teenagers need more energy from food than adults do)
● whether the person is a girl or a boy (boys need more energy than girls).
Food labels may also have health claims on them, which use persuasive language.
Eating too much or too little can cause problems. Too much fat may cause heart disease and can
make people overweight. Very overweight people are obese.
People starve and become weak if they eat too little. Starvation and obesity are both forms of
malnutrition. Other forms include deficiency diseases such as scurvy, which is due to a lack of
vitamin C.

Digestion
Digestion turns large insoluble substances into small soluble ones. The organs of the digestive
system help us digest food. Many of them produce enzymes (substances that are catalysts and
help speed up food digestion).
We can use a model to make it easier to think about how enzymes work:

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The gut
Food is digested in the gut.

To help absorb the digested food, the wall of the small intestine is folded and covered with villi.
The cells have microvilli. These features all increase the surface area. The wall of the small
intestine is also only one-cell thick, meaning that it is easy for small molecules to diffuse out of the
small intestine and into the blood. The digested food molecules are carried in the blood plasma.
The surface area is the total area of the faces of a three-dimensional object.

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Hazards
● A hazard is something that can cause harm.
● Chemicals are labelled with hazard symbols to warn people of potential dangers.
● Some common hazard symbols are:

Risk WS
● A risk is the chance that a hazard will actually cause harm.
● Risks can be reduced by taking precautions. E.g. wearing eye protection to prevent chemicals
splashing in your eyes or tying long hair back to prevent it catching fire in a Bunsen flame.

Acids
● Common substances at home that contain acids include: citric acid, vinegar, fizzy drinks and
car battery acid.
● Acids have a sour taste.
● Most concentrated acids are corrosive. If they are added to water they become more dilute.
Dilute acids are less hazardous. Many dilute acids are irritant.

Alkalis
● Common substances at home that contain alkalis include: toothpaste, drain cleaner, oven
cleaner.
● Many alkalis are metal hydroxide solutions.
● An alkali can be described as a soluble base. A base is any substance, soluble or insoluble,
that neutralises an acid forming a salt and water.

Indicators
● Indicators change colour and can be used to detect acids, alkalis and neutral solutions.
● Litmus is a common indicator.

Solution Colour of litmus

acid red
neutral purple
alkali blue

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pH scale
● A numbered scale from 1 to 14.
● Acids have a pH less than 7. The lower the pH, the more acidic the substance is. The lower the
pH, the more hazardous the acid is.
● Neutral solutions have pH 7.
● Alkalis have a pH more than 7. The higher the pH, the more alkaline the substance is.
The higher the pH, the more hazardous the alkali is.

strong acid weak acid neutral weak alkali strong alkali

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14

stomach vinegar fizzy skin pure indigestion washing oven

acid drinks water powder powder
cleane
r

lemon juice milk toothpaste

Neutralisation
● This is a reaction between an acid and an alkali.
acid + alkali → salt + water
● It is also a reaction between an acid and a base.
acid + base → salt + water

Word equation
● This summarises a reaction by writing the names of the substances you start with and the
names of the new substances that are made.
● Reactants are the substances you start with and are written on the left side of the word
equation.
● Products are the new substances that are made and are written on the right side of the word
equation.
● There is an arrow between the reactants and products. The arrow means ‘react to form’. Do not
write an equals sign, =.
● For example
hydrochloric acid + sodium hydroxide → sodium chloride + water
Hydrochloric acid and sodium hydroxide are the reactants.
Sodium chloride and water are the products.
Notice the arrow between the reactants and the products.

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Salts
● Salts are made when an acid reacts with an alkali or a base.
● Salts names are made of two words.
● The first part of the name of the salt is the same as the metal in the alkali or base.
● The second part of the name of the salt comes from the acid.

Acid Second part of the Example

name of the salt
hydrochloric acid chloride Zinc chloride is made from zinc oxide and
hydrochloric acid
nitric acid nitrate Magnesium nitrate is made from magnesium oxide
and nitric acid
sulfuric acid sulfate Copper sulfate is made from copper oxide and
sulfuric acid

Neutralisation in everyday life

● Antacids are indigestion remedies. People take these medicines if they have indigestion
caused by too much acid in the stomach. The antacid contains a base that neutralises the
extra acid.
● Soil can become too acidic for some crops to grow. Farmers spread lime (a base) on the soil
to neutralise the acid.
● Toothpaste contains a mild alkali to neutralise the acid in our mouths.
● Alkalis are used to neutralise the acidic gases coming out of power stations.
● Sulfuric acid reacts with iron oxide in rust and removes it from the surface of an object.

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Combustion and oxidation

A hydrocarbon is made only of carbon and hydrogen. Many fuels are mainly hydrocarbons.
Hydrocarbon combustion: This is a word
equation.
hydrocarbon + oxygen  water + carbon dioxide
Combustion is also an oxidation reaction because the substances react with oxygen.
Carbon and hydrogen are non-metals but metals can also be oxidised:
metal + oxygen  metal oxide

Conservation of mass in reactions

In a reaction, the mass of the reactants is always the same as the
mass of the products.
Metals can appear to gain mass when heated in air:
zinc + oxygen  zinc oxide
The difference in mass is the mass of oxygen that reacted.
When a hydrocarbon fuel combusts, it appears to lose mass because the products of the reaction
(carbon dioxide, water vapour) are lost into the air.

Phlogiston
Before oxygen was discovered, scientists explained combustion by saying that, as a substance
burnt, it gave out a substance called phlogiston to the air. For example:
wood  calx (ash) + phlogiston
However, the phlogiston theory could not explain why metals gained mass when they reacted
with air.

The fire triangle and putting fires out

The fire triangle shows the three factors needed for a fire to burn. If any factor is
removed, the fire will go out.
We use fire extinguishers to put out fires. Water extinguishers remove heat.
Powder and carbon dioxide extinguishers exclude oxygen. Foam extinguishers
can both remove heat and exclude oxygen.
Oil fires should not be treated with water because the water sinks through the oil, which heats up
and causes the water to evaporate. This causes the oil to ‘spit’ and can spread the fire.

Hazard symbols
Hazard symbols explain why a substance must be handled carefully.

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Air pollution from burning fossil fuels
Complete combustion – the fuel reacts completely with oxygen, e.g.:
hydrocarbon + oxygen  carbon dioxide + water
Incomplete combustion – the fuel only partly reacts with oxygen, e.g.:
hydrocarbon + oxygen  carbon dioxide + water + carbon monoxide + carbon (soot)
Impurities in fossil fuels, such as substances that contain sulfur, also react with oxygen when
heated:
sulfur + oxygen  sulfur dioxide
At the very high temperatures in vehicle engines, nitrogen gas from the air reacts with oxygen:
nitrogen + oxygen  nitrogen oxides
Many products from burning fossil fuels are pollutants; they harm the habitats and their
organisms.

Acid rain
Acid rain is rain water that is made more acidic by dissolved sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides.
Some of these gases are removed from power station chimneys by neutralisation, and by using
catalytic converters on vehicle exhausts. Catalytic converters also remove carbon monoxide
(another pollutant).

Greenhouse effect and global warming

Greenhouse gases in the Earth’s atmosphere keep the Earth’s surface warm. This is the
greenhouse effect.

Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas. Most scientists think that the extra carbon dioxide released
from burning fossil fuels has increased the temperature of the Earth’s surface (global warming).
Scientists predict that global warming will cause climate change. The best way to control global
warming is probably to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide we release into the air.

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Forces
Forces are pushes or pulls. Forces can:
● change the shape or size of an object
● change the speed things are moving (make them move faster or slower)
● change the direction of a moving object.
The unit for measuring force is the newton (N).
Friction is a force caused by two things rubbing together. Air resistance and water resistance
are kinds of friction.
Solid things, like your chair, push up on you when you sit on them. Upwards forces from water or
air are called upthrust. Things float in water because of upthrust.
Contact forces only act when two objects or Some forces can have an effect without objects
materials are touching. Examples of contact touching. They are called non-contact forces.
forces are: There are three non-contact forces:
● friction ● magnetism
● air resistance ● gravity
● water resistance ● static electricity.
● upthrust.

Weight and mass

Your mass is the amount of substance in your body. Your mass is measured in kilograms (kg).
Your weight is a force caused by gravity pulling on your body. The newton (N) is the scientific unit
used to measure forces, and so it is also used as the unit for weight.
Wherever you take an object, its mass will not change but its weight depends on the force of
gravity. An object on the Moon would have a smaller weight than on Earth, because the Moon’s
gravity is not as strong as Earth’s.

Measuring forces
Elastic materials will stretch with a force and then return
to their original shape when the force is taken away.
Springs are elastic. The extension of a spring is the
difference between its original length and its stretched
length.
The extension of a spring is proportional to the force on
it. This is called Hooke's Law.
If the spring is stretched too far, the extension stops
being proportional to the force. If it is stretched even
further, it goes beyond its elastic limit. The spring will no
longer return to its original length when the force is
removed.
Force meters have springs inside them.
Materials like Plasticine® will stretch with a force but they
will not return to their original shape afterwards.
Plasticine® is a plastic material.

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Friction
Friction is a contact force. Friction can:
● slow things down ● produce heat
● wear things away ● cause a noise.
Friction can be increased by using rough surfaces, or by using materials such as rubber that have
a lot of friction.
Friction can be reduced by using smooth surfaces, or by lubrication. Oil and grease are examples
of lubricants, and help things to move past each other easily.

Pressure
Pressure is the amount of force pushing on a certain area.
For a certain area, the bigger the force, the bigger the pressure. For a certain force, the bigger the
area, the smaller the pressure.

Sharp knife – a small area giving a large pressure. Snow shoes – a large area giving a small pressure.
We can work out the pressure under an object using this formula:
pressure = force ÷ area

Balanced and unbalanced forces

Balanced forces are forces on an object that are the same size but work in opposite directions.
If forces are balanced:
● a stationary object stays stationary
● a moving object continues to move at the same speed and in the same direction.
If there are unbalanced forces on an object:
● a stationary object will start to move
● a moving object will change its speed or direction.

Balanced forces – the motorbike will continue to

Unbalanced forces – the motorbike will speed up. move at a steady speed.

A car or motorbike uses the energy stored in fuel to move at a steady speed because it needs a
force from the engine to balance the forces of air resistance and friction.

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Fluids
Fluids are liquids or gases.

The particle model

The particle model can explain the properties of solids, liquids and gases.

Solids Liquids Gases

Properties ● fixed volume ● fixed volume ● expand to fill container
● fixed shape ● take shape of container ● take shape of
container

Particle
diagram

Particles ● are close together ● are close together ● are far apart
● are held in fixed ● are held by fairly strong ● are held by very weak
positions by strong forces forces
forces ● can move around ● can move around

Density
Density is the mass of a certain volume of something, and it can be calculated using this formula:
mass
density =
volume
The units for density are g/cm3 or kg/m3.

Changes of state
Substances can change state when they are heated or cooled. The three states of matter are solid,
liquid and gas.

A liquid evaporates from its surface. When it is boiling, bubbles of gas form within the liquid.

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The melting point and the freezing point of a substance are the same temperature. The
temperature of a substance does not change while it is melting, even if it is still being heated.

Changing density
Substances expand when they are heated. The particles in a solid vibrate more and take up more
space. The particles in liquids and gases move around faster and take up more space. When a
material expands its density decreases.
Substances contract when they cool down, as the particles have less energy and do not move as
much. This reduces the volume and increases the density. When a liquid freezes and becomes a
solid its density increases a lot.
Ice is unusual, because it is less dense than liquid water. This is why ice floats on water.
Pressure in fluids
Both gases and liquids are fluids. Fluids can flow. Pressure in fluids acts in all directions. The
particles in fluids are moving all the time and hitting the walls of containers and other things they
come into contact with. The force of the collisions causes pressure, which acts in all directions.
The pressure of gas in a container can be increased by:
● putting more particles into the container (so there will be more collisions with the container
walls each second).
● heating the gas (so the particles move faster, hitting the walls harder and more often).
● reducing the volume of the container (so the particles do not have as far to go between the
walls and so collide with the walls more often).
As you go deeper into the sea, pressure increases because there is more water above you
pressing down. If you climb a high mountain, the air pressure on you will get less, because there is
less air above you pressing down.
Floating and sinking
You can decide if something will float by working out its density, and the density of the fluid. If the
density of the object is less than the density of the fluid, it will float.
The density of water is 1 g/cm3, so objects with densities less than 1 g/cm3 will float in water.
Drag
Drag is another name for air resistance or water resistance. The amount of drag on something can
be reduced by giving it a smooth surface and a streamlined shape. The drag increases as the
speed increases, so cars use up more fuel per kilometre when they are travelling fast. Drag is
caused by particles in the fluid hitting the moving object, and by the force needed for the object to
push the fluid out of the way. The particles transfer energy to the object, which is why objects
moving through air can get hot.

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