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CH 10 Reaching The Age of Adolescence Notes

Adolescence is the period between ages 11-18 when the body undergoes changes leading to reproductive maturity. During puberty, which occurs in adolescence, both males and females reach sexual maturity. Their bodies develop secondary sex characteristics - in males this includes growth of facial hair and a deeper voice, while in females breasts develop. These changes are driven by sex hormones like testosterone and estrogen secreted by the gonads and pituitary gland. Menstruation begins in females at menarche as their ovaries start to release eggs each month.

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74 views

CH 10 Reaching The Age of Adolescence Notes

Adolescence is the period between ages 11-18 when the body undergoes changes leading to reproductive maturity. During puberty, which occurs in adolescence, both males and females reach sexual maturity. Their bodies develop secondary sex characteristics - in males this includes growth of facial hair and a deeper voice, while in females breasts develop. These changes are driven by sex hormones like testosterone and estrogen secreted by the gonads and pituitary gland. Menstruation begins in females at menarche as their ovaries start to release eggs each month.

Uploaded by

Shreyansh Agarwal
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Chinmaya International Residential School

Class 8 Science
Ch-10 Reaching the age of Adolescence
Notes
  Adolescence: The period of life, when the body undergoes changes, leading to reproductive
maturity is known as adolescence.
•   Generally, adolescence begins at the age of 11 and lasts upto 18 or 19 years of age.
Adolescents are also called teenagers because they cover the period of the teens i.e. 13 to 18 or
19 years of age.
•   Puberty: The period of adolescence during which a adolescent reaches sexual maturity and
becomes able to have children.
•   Changes at Puberty
•   During puberty sudden increase in height takes place. This happens due to elongation of long
bones of legs and arms that make a person tall.
•   Girls grow faster than boys by about 18 years of age, both reach their maximum height. The
rate of growth in height varies in different individual.
        Height of an individual (male or female) depends on the genes inherited from parents.
However, right kind of food during growing years is also essential.
Boys develop larger voice boxes (Larynx) to form a protruding part of throat called Adam’s Apple.
Boys have deep voice.
        In Girls, larynx is hardly visible (Adam’s apple not visible). They have pitched voice.
•   Change in Body Shape: In boys, at the age of puberty, shoulders generally brooden as a
result of growth. In boys, the muscles of the body grow prominently than in the girls.
        In girls, the region below the waist becomes wider. The muscles also comparatively grow
less.

Fig. 10.1 Adam�s apple in grown up boy.


•   The secretion of sweat glands and sebaceous glands (oil glands) increases during puberty.
•   Development of Sex Organs: In males, testes and penis develop completely. Tests start
producing sperms.
        In girls, ovaries enlarge and eggs begin to mature. Ovaries start releasing mature eggs
(ova).
•   At puberty, individuals reach mental, intellectual and emotional maturity.
•   Secondary Sexual Character: Such as development of breasts in girls, moustaches and
beard in boys, begin to develop. These characters that help in distinguishing the males from the
females are called secondary sexual characters.
        Boys also develop hair on their chest.
•   Hormones: Hormones are chemical substances secreted in endocrine glands. They also
known as ductless glands. These glands release hormones directly into the blood stream to
reach a particular body part known as target site.
        Hormones control the changes that occur at adolescence. The male hormone called
testosterone is secreted by the testes at the onset of puberty and cause development of facial
hair, chest hair etc. At the onset of puberty in girls, ovaries secrete female hormone or estrogens
which makes the breast develop. Their secretion is under the pituitary endocrine gland.
•   Reproductive phase lasts for a much longer time in males than in females.
•   The uterine wall in females prepares itself to receive the developing fertilised egg. In case
there is no fertilisation, the thickened lining of the uterine wall breaks down and goes out along
with blood.
        This bleeding in women is called menstruation which occurs once in about 28 to 30 days.
•   Menarche: The first menstrual flow which begins at puberty is known as menarche.
•   Menopause: At 45 to 50 years of age, the menstruation cycle stops. Stoppage of
menstruation is known as menopause.
•   Sex chromosome: The thread structures present inside the nucleus of every cell are called
chromosomes. All human beings have 23 pairs of chromosomes in nuclei of their cells. Two
chromosomes out of these are the sex chromosomes known as X and Y. A female has two X
chromosomes whereas a male has one X and one Y chromosomes.
•   Sex of the unborn child depends on whether the zygote has XX or XY chromosome.
•   Hormones other than Sex Hormones.
        

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