The
Excretory
System
By Kathleen W.
Redman
1 Good morning everyone. I am your guide today. We will be taking a
tour of the excretory system. We will learn why it is so important to your
body. We will find out how it works. We will get to visit the major parts of the
excretory system, too.
2 Did you know that your excretory system is very slow? Well, it may not
be that slow. Compared to a bird's excretory system, yours is slow. A bird
eats its food and can excrete the waste from the meal in about 45 minutes.
It takes your body hours to digest the food. It is an even longer time before
you can get rid of the waste.
3 Your excretory system has a job to do. Your body has a way to remove
solid waste from your body. The excretory system works to get rid of fluids.
Urine is the result of the work of the excretory system.
4 Your kidneys are the core parts of your excretory system. Most people
have two kidneys. Other parts are the ureters, bladder, and urethra. See
there, I told you it was a small system!
5 Urine is the result of your body balancing the amount of water and
salts in your body. Your kidneys pull harmful substances out of your blood.
They also help you when you haven't been drinking much water. They
create less urine and your body loses less water. Your body doesn't run out
of fluid as quickly.
6 The excretory system works with the circulatory system to keep the
blood free from harmful toxins. It removes urea, uric acid, and water from
the blood. Most of the water is put back into the system.
7 There are many diseases of the excretory system. The kidneys not
working properly cause many problems. If kidneys don't filter your blood
properly, blood pressure will go up. Urea will build up in your tissues and
slowly poison your cells.
8 Sometimes people whose kidneys don't work go through dialysis. They
are hooked up to a machine that filters their blood. The machine acts like
an artificial kidney and removes harmful substances from the blood.
9 Your excretory system is a very important part of your body. Each of
the organs has a function and care should be taken to keep them healthy.
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1. 2. How long does it take for a bird to digest The product of the excretory system is
its food and get rid of the waste?
______.
45 minutes
Urine
30 minutes
Sugar
1 hour
Blood
8 hours
Poison
3. The system is made up of the urethra,
ureters, bladder, and ______.
Muscles
Kidneys
Heart
Lungs
4. The kidneys remove extra ______ and other
minerals from the blood.
Salts
Sugars
Dirt
Air
5. People usually have ______ kidneys.
Five
Three
Four
Two
7. When a person's kidneys don't work well,
sometimes they have to have waste
removed by ______.
Pills
Dialysis
Osmosis
Surgery
6. If urea builds up in your tissues, what
happens?
It will slowly poison your cells.
The urea will dissolve.
It will help you get rid of waste
faster.
It will cause your kidneys to
explode.
8. Most of the water removed from blood is
______.
Red
A part of urine
Put back into the system
Useless