MICROORGANISMS
Microorganisms:
Living organisms around us which we normally cannot see.
Microorganisms, Microbes.
Seen with a magnifying glass or a microscope Bacteria.
Microorganism
Bacteria Fungi protozoa algae
Activity:
Collect some moist soil from the field in a beaker.
Add water to it. After the soil particles have settled down, observe a drop of water from the
beakerunder a microscope.
Viruses:
Reproduce only inside the cells of the host organism.
Cold, influenza (flu) and most coughs are caused by viruses.
Polio and chicken pox - virus.
Dysentery and malaria - protozoa.
Typhoid and tuberculosis (TB) - bacteria.
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amoeba z paramecium bacteria
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viruses
spirogyra chlamydomonas
Bread mould pencillium
aspergillus
fungi
Where Do Microorganisms Live:
Microorganisms live in ice cold climate.
Hot springs.
Deserts.
Marshy lands.
Inside the bodies of animals.
Activity 2:
Take ½ kg flour.
Add some sugar and mix with warm water.
Add a small amount of yeast powder.
Knead to make a soft dough.
observe after two hours.
Making breads, pastries andcakes.
Alcohol production -
Yeast
Production of alcohol and wine.
Conversion of sugar into alcohol is fermentation
Activity 3:
Take a 500 mL beaker filled upto ¾ with water.
Dissolve 2-3 teaspoons of sugar in it.
Add half a spoon of yeast powder to the sugar
Keep it covered in a warm place for 4-5 hours.
Smell the solution.
Medicines:
Medicinal Use of Microorganisms –
Kill the disease-causing microorganisms.
Antibiotics.
Streptomycin.
Control plant diseases.
Vaccine:
When a disease-carrying microbe enters our body, the body produces antibodies.
They fight the invader.
Injections - protect from diseases
Polio Programme - polio drops.
Campaign against smallpox.
Increasing Soil Fertility:
Biological nitrogen fixers.
Cleaning the Environment:
Manure.
Collected wastes of plants, vegetables and fruits.
Put in a pit.
Decaying plants and dead animals on the disappear.
Microorganisms degrade.
Clean up the environment.
Harmful Microorganisms:
Disease-causing microorganisms are pathogens.
Spoil food.
Clothing.
Leather.
Pathogens enter through air, water or food.
Communicable diseases: microbial diseases that spreads from infected person to healthy person.
Examples - Cholera, common cold, chicken pox,tuberculosis.
Carriers of disease causing microbes.
Housefly sit on the garbage, animal excreta.
Pathogens stick to their bodies.
Female Anopheles mosquito carries the parasite of malaria - Plasmodium.
Female Aedes mosquito - Carrier of denguevirus.Harmful Microorganisms:
In Animals -
Microorganisms cause diseases anthrax.
Disease caused by a bacterium.
In Plants -
Diseases reduce the yield of crops.
Controlled by the use of certain chemical
Food Preservation:
Microorganisms grow on our food.
Produce toxic substances.
Chemical Method -
Salts and edible oils are called preservatives
Examples - Sodium benzoate and sodium metabisulphate.
Preservation by Common Salt -
Meat and fish with dry salt.
check the growth of bacteria.
Preservation by Sugar -
Jams, jellies and squashes are preserved by sugar.
Sugar reduces the moisture content.
Food Preservation:
Preservation by Oil and Vinegar.
Heat and Cold Treatments
Boiling kills many microorganisms.
Low temperature inhibits the growth of microbes
Storage and Packing -
Air tight packets.
Prevent the attack of microbes.
Nitrogen Fixation:
Rhizobium.
Fixation of nitrogen in deguminous plants.
Nitrogen gets fixed through action of lightning
Nitrogen Cycle:
Atmosphere has 78% hitrogen gas.
Certain bacteria and blue green algae present in the soil fix nitrogen from the atmosphere.
Nitrogen is then used for the synthesis of plant proteins.
Animals feeding on plants get these proteins,
When plants and animals die.
Nitrogenous wastes.Used by plants again.
Percentage of nitrogen in the atmosphere remains constant.
