Chapter 17: Locomotion and Movement

🔍 17.1 Movement vs. Locomotion

  • Movement is a key feature of all living things! 🌱🐾 Plants and animals show many types of movement.
  • Examples:
    • Protoplasm streaming in Amoeba (unicellular organisms)
    • Cilia, flagella, or tentacle movements in many organisms
    • Human movements: limbs, jaws, eyelids, tongue
  • When movement changes an organism’s place/location (e.g., walking, running, swimming), it’s called locomotion 🚶‍♂️🏊‍♀️.
  • Key idea: All locomotion is movement, but NOT all movement is locomotion! (e.g., chewing food moves your jaw but doesn’t change your location).
  • Locomotion helps animals find food, shelter, mates, breeding grounds, good climates, or escape predators 🐾🌧️.

🧫 3 Types of Movement in Human Cells

  1. Amoeboid Movement:
    • Seen in specialized cells like macrophages and leucocytes (white blood cells).
    • Happens using pseudopodia (temporary protoplasm extensions) like in Amoeba.
    • Involves cytoskeletal elements (e.g., microfilaments).
  2. Ciliary Movement:
    • Occurs in internal tubes lined with ciliated epithelium.
    • Functions:
      • Trachea: Cilia push out dust/foreign particles from airways 🫁✨.
      • Female reproductive tract: Cilia help move ova (eggs).
  3. Muscular Movement:
    • Used for limb, jaw, and tongue movements 💪.
    • Muscle contractions power locomotion in humans & most multicellular organisms.
    • Requires teamwork between muscular, skeletal, and neural systems!

💪 17.2 Muscles: The Body’s Motors!

  • Muscles are mesoderm-derived tissues making up 40-50% of adult body weight.
  • Special properties:
    • Excitability (respond to signals)
    • Contractility (shorten force)
    • Extensibility (stretch)
    • Elasticity (return to original shape)

Types of Muscles (Based on Location):

  1. Skeletal Muscle:
    • Attached to bones 🦴.
    • Striped (striated) under a microscope.
    • Voluntary control (you decide to move them!).
    • Used for locomotion/posture changes (e.g., running, waving).
  2. Visceral Muscle:
    • Found in hollow organs (e.g., gut, reproductive tract).
    • Smooth (non-striated) appearance.
    • Involuntary control (automatic, e.g., digestion).
    • Moves food through the digestive tract & gametes in genital tracts 🍲🔁.
  3. Cardiac Muscle:
    • (Mentioned as a type, but details not in this section).

🚨 Important Concepts for NEET

  • Movement vs. Locomotion: Locomotion always changes location; other movements don’t.
  • 3 human cell movements: Amoeboid (immune cells), ciliary (trachea/ovaries), muscular (limbs).
  • Muscle types & control:
    • Skeletal → striated + voluntary
    • Visceral → smooth + involuntary
  • Muscle properties: Excitability, contractility, extensibility, elasticity.
  • Ciliary function: Clears airways & moves ova.

Keep practicing — you’re doing great! 🌟