Try it on paper first. A hint, the key idea and the worked solution are here when you need them.
A student compares the blood system of a cockroach with that of a human.
The blood vascular system of the cockroach is open. The blood, called haemolymph, bathes the organs in the body space. A tubular heart with funnel shaped chambers and ostia pumps it forwards. The respiratory system is a network of tracheae that open through ten pairs of spiracles, two pairs in the thorax and eight in the abdomen. The tracheae branch into tracheoles that carry air to the cells. Malpighian tubules remove nitrogenous waste. The nervous system has a brain in the head and a ventral nerve cord with nine ganglia, three in the thorax and six in the abdomen. The sense organs are the antennae, the compound eyes, the palps and the anal cerci. The time for diffusion over a distance x is x squared divided by two times the diffusion constant.
Have you tried it?
Work it out on paper first. It is fine to get stuck or make a mistake: that is how we learn. When you are ready, go through the solution one step at a time, and check each step against your own.
Step 1. (a) The cockroach. The human system is closed.
Step 2. (b) Haemolymph. It has a colourless plasma and cells called haemocytes.
Step 3. (c) No. Oxygen is carried by the tracheae, which take air straight to the cells. The haemolymph has no respiratory pigment.
Step 4. (d) Through the ostia, the paired openings in the funnel shaped chambers of the heart.
Answer: (a) the cockroach; (b) haemolymph, with plasma and haemocytes; (c) no, the tracheae carry the air; (d) through the ostia.
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