Skip to content
2. Organisation
2.2
Enzymes and the lock and key model
What enzymes are, how the shape of the active site makes each enzyme specific to one substrate, the lock and key model, and what happens when an enzyme is denatured.
AQA
Edexcel
OCR
7 questions
2.3
Factors affecting enzyme activity
How temperature, pH, substrate concentration and enzyme concentration change the rate of an enzyme-controlled reaction, what an optimum is, and how to calculate a rate of reaction.
AQA
Edexcel
OCR
7 questions
2.4
Required practical: pH and amylase
The required practical for the effect of pH on amylase: the starch and iodine continuous sampling method, variables, how to calculate rate as 1000 divided by time, and how to make the results more accurate.
AQA
Edexcel
OCR
7 questions
2.5
The digestive system and digestive enzymes
The organs of the digestive system, the three groups of digestive enzymes (carbohydrases, proteases and lipases), where they are made and what they produce, and how bile helps digestion.
AQA
Edexcel
OCR
7 questions
2.6
Required practical: food tests
How to test foods for starch, reducing sugars, protein and lipids using iodine, Benedict's solution, biuret reagent and Sudan III or the ethanol emulsion test, with the colour changes, safety and how to prepare a food sample.
AQA
Edexcel
OCR
6 questions
2.7
Measuring the energy in food (calorimetry)
Edexcel core practical: burning a food sample under a boiling tube of water to measure the energy it contains, calculating energy with mass of water x 4.2 x temperature rise, and why the result is lower than the true value.
Separate only
Edexcel
6 questions
2.8
The lungs and gas exchange
The structure of the lungs, from the trachea to the alveoli, and how alveoli are adapted for gas exchange: a large surface area, thin walls, a good blood supply and ventilation keep oxygen and carbon dioxide diffusing quickly.
AQA
Edexcel
OCR
6 questions
2.9
The heart
How the double circulatory system works, the four chambers of the heart, its valves and major blood vessels, why the left ventricle has the thickest wall, the coronary arteries and the pacemaker.
AQA
Edexcel
OCR
7 questions
2.10
Heart rate and cardiac output
Edexcel: calculating cardiac output from stroke volume and heart rate, rearranging the equation, measuring heart rate from the pulse, and why cardiac output rises during exercise.
Edexcel
6 questions
2.11
Blood vessels
How the structures of arteries, veins and capillaries suit their jobs: thick elastic walls for high pressure, valves and wide lumens for low pressure, and walls one cell thick for exchange, plus how to calculate the rate of blood flow.
AQA
Edexcel
OCR
6 questions
2.12
Blood
The four parts of the blood: plasma, red blood cells, white blood cells and platelets, what each does, how red blood cells are adapted to carry oxygen, and how to recognise each in a blood smear.
AQA
Edexcel
OCR
6 questions
2.13
Coronary heart disease and its treatment
How fatty deposits in the coronary arteries cause coronary heart disease, and how it and other heart problems are treated: stents, statins, valve replacement, transplants, artificial hearts and lifestyle changes, with their advantages and disadvantages.
AQA
Edexcel
OCR
6 questions
2.14
Health, lifestyle and risk factors
What health is, communicable and non-communicable diseases, how diseases interact, the main risk factors (diet, exercise, smoking, alcohol, carcinogens), correlation and causation, BMI and waist:hip ratio, and the costs of disease.
AQA
Edexcel
OCR
7 questions
2.15
Cancer
Cancer as uncontrolled cell growth and division caused by changes in cells, the difference between benign and malignant tumours, how cancers spread to form secondary tumours, and the lifestyle and genetic risk factors.
AQA
Edexcel
OCR
6 questions
2.16
Plant tissues and the leaf
The leaf as a plant organ: the epidermis, palisade and spongy mesophyll, xylem, phloem and meristem tissues, and how guard cells open and close the stomata, with how each is adapted for photosynthesis and gas exchange.
AQA
Edexcel
OCR
6 questions
2.17
Root hair cells, xylem and phloem
How root hair cells take up water by osmosis and mineral ions by active transport, and how xylem (dead, lignified, hollow tubes) and phloem (living sieve tube cells with sieve plates) are adapted to transport water and sugars.
AQA
Edexcel
OCR
6 questions
2.18
Transpiration and translocation
How water moves through a plant in the transpiration stream, how light intensity, temperature, air movement and humidity change the rate of transpiration, and how sugars are moved by translocation in the phloem.
AQA
Edexcel
OCR
6 questions
2.19
Measuring transpiration with a potometer
How to set up a bubble potometer, measure how far the air bubble moves, calculate the rate of water uptake (including volume from the tube radius), and why water uptake is not exactly the same as transpiration.
AQA
Edexcel
OCR
6 questions
2.20
Plants in extreme environments
Edexcel: how leaf size and shape, the waxy cuticle and the number and position of stomata help plants such as cacti, marram grass and pine trees to survive hot, dry, windy or cold places by reducing water loss.
Separate only
Edexcel
5 questions