Chapter

2 Sense Organs
sight smell

hearing touch taste

Our senses tell us about the surrounding world.

Student Learning Outcomes

After completing this chapter, you will be able to:
 Explain the structure and function of eye.
 Explain the structure and function of ear.
 Explain the structure and function of skin.
 Explain the structure and function of nose.
 Explain the structure and function of tongue.
 The world around us is very interesting. Allah Almighty has blessed us
with five sense organs to enjoy the world. Sense organs are special parts of our
body that tell us what is going on around us. Our eyes, ears, skin, nose and
tongue are our sense organs. All the sense organs are linked to the brain by
nerves.

ear brain
skin

eye

nose tongue

Fig.2.1: Our brain controls every thing that our body does.

The Eye
We see with our eyes. Our eyes tell us about colours, shapes and
movements of objects around us. The eye is an organ of sight.
The human eye consists of an eyeball. The eye is covered with eyelids.
Eyelashes on the eyelids keep away dust particles. Under the upper eyelids tear
glands open.
Main parts of our eye are cornea, iris, pupil, lens, retina and optic nerve
(Fig.2.2).
lens

retina pupil

cornea

optic nerve
iris

Fig.2.2: Internal structure of human eye

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Cornea
In the front of eye, the transparent part is called cornea. Light rays enter
the eye through the cornea.
Iris
Beneath the cornea the coloured portion of the eye is called iris. Have
you ever observed brown, blue and hazel eyes of your friends?
There is a hole in the middle of the iris, known as pupil. This pupil
contracts in bright daylight and expands in dim light.
Lens
Interesting Fact
Behind the pupil, a flexible lens is present.
The lens in your eye can
The lens helps the eye to focus light. change its shape to see
Retina near and far objects. It
becomes thick to see near
The light sensitive portion of the eyeball is objects. It becomes thin to
called retina. Eye lens forms the image on the retina. see far objects.

Optic nerve
When light hits the retina, its cells make nerve signals. These signals
pass along the optic nerve to the brain.

Functioning of Eye
light image optic nerve
rays cornea pupil lens retina brain

Do you Our eye is similar to a camera. Both have lens. The lens in our eye forms
know? image on the retina but camera lens forms an image on the film.

Activity 2.1
Observe model or chart of structure of eye. Identify different parts of
human eye and draw a diagram.

The Ear
We hear sounds through our ears. Ear is an organ of hearing. Human ear
consists of three parts; outer ear, middle ear and inner ear (Fig.2.3).
Outer Ear
The outer ear consists of a pinna and a long narrow tube called ear
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canal. The pinna collects sound waves from the
Interesting Fact
air around. The sound waves then travel along the
Some animals can twitch their
ear canal.
ears to catch sound waves. A
Middle Ear horse can move its ears. We
The outer ear is connected to the middle can not move our ears.
ear by a thin membrane called the ear drum. The
eardrum vibrates when sound waves strike it. On the other side of the ear drum is
the middle ear which is filled with air. It has three small bones in the body, i.e.
hammer, anvil and stirrup.
Inner Ear
The last part of the ear is the inner ear. The inner ear is filled with a liquid.
This part of ear has a coiled structure called cochlea. The cochlea is the actual
hearing organ. The cochlea sends signals to the brain through a special nerve
called auditory nerve.
Outer ear Middle ear Inner ear
pinna hammer
eardrum anvil
auditory
nerve

cochlea
ear canal

stirrup
Fig.2.3: Internal structure of human ear

Functioning of Ear
three auditory nerve
sound pinna eardrum cochlea brain
waves bones

Activity 2.2
Observe model/chart of human ear. Identify its different parts. Draw a
diagram and label its various parts.
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 The Skin
The largest sense organ in our body is the skin. Skin is the organ of touch.
Skin covers every part of our body. It protects the inner parts of our body. The skin
contains several kinds of cells that detect pain, pressure, touch, heat and cold.
Our skin has an outer layer and an inner
layer (Fig.2.4). The outer layer has colour Interesting Fact
pigment and protects the skin from harmful rays of A blind person
the Sun. The inner layer has blood vessels, can read Braille,
nerves, sweat glands and roots of hairs. This layer by using the
sense of touch.
is the sensitive part of the skin. When we touch
something, sensitive cells of the skin receive
messages and send them to the brain.
Outer layer

nerves

blood vessels
Inner layer

sweat gland

Fig.2.4: Internal structure of human skin

Do you The skin at the tips of the fingers is most sensitive. The
know? least sensitive part of our body is our heel.

Activity 2.3
1. Place coins of one, two and five rupees in a small covered shoe box. With
your eyes closed, reach into the box and remove the coin of five rupees.
2. Open your eyes to see what coin it actually is.
3. Place back the coin again and repeat your experiment for other coins too.
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 The Nose
Suppose there is a dead and decaying rat in one of your room's corners.
How would you come to know about the dead rat? Of course, you would smell
bad odour in the room. The sense organ for smelling is the nose.
Our nose is a hollow air passage. It has
two openings called nostrils. In each side of the
nose is an air chamber (Fig. 2.5). The roof of the Interesting Fact
nose has lining of nerve cells to sense smell.
Smells are tiny particles
When certain odour chemicals present in air
that breaks off the surface
enter our nose, they touch the nerve cells. Nerve of things and float in the air
cells pass the message to the brain through the
olfactory nerve. Our brain tells whether the
odour is pleasant or unpleasant.

brain

nerve

nasal cavity
nostril

mouth
throat

Fig.2.5: Internal structure of human nose

Do you Dogs have very strong sense of smell. They are often
know? used to trace thieves and drugs.
Our nose can detect 10,000 different scents and smells.
Our sense of smell also helps our sense of taste.

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 The Tongue
Our tongue is the sense organ of taste. It helps to detect the flavour of
food. We can detect sweet, salty, sour and bitter tastes with our tongue.
The upper surface of the tongue is covered with many pimple like lumps
(Fig.2.6). Between these lumps, taste buds are present. Each taste bud has
many nerve cells. When particles of a food touch the taste buds, nerves send
signals of taste to the brain.
We feel sweet, salty, sour and bitter tastes on different parts of our
tongue. The tip of the tongue has taste buds to detect sweet taste. The sides of
the tongue are sensitive to salty and sour tastes. The back of the tongue has
taste buds to detect bitter taste.

taste buds
bitter

sour

salty
sweet

Fig.2.6: Different parts of the tongue detect different tastes.

Activity 2.4
Check the tastes of sugar (sweet), bitter gourd (bitter), lemon (sour) and
table salt (salty) on different parts of your tongue.

Chapter Review
1. Our body has five main sense organs.
2. Eye is the sense organ of sight.
3. Our ears are the organs for the sense of hearing.
4. Skin is the organ for the sense of touch.
5. The sense organ for smelling is the nose.
6. The sense organ for taste is the tongue.

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 Test Preparation
1. Write proper term/word against each statement.
i. It can feel the pressure
ii. The hole in the middle of the iris
iii. Air enters the nose through it
iv. Carries signals from ear to brain
v. Present on our tongue
2. Circle the letter of the best answer.
i. The control room of our body is:
(a) heart (b) stomach
(c) brain (d) liver
ii. The most sensitive part of our eye is:
(a) retina (b) cornea
(c) pupil (d) lens
iii. A dumb by birth can not speak. He/She also has no:
(a) sense of touch (b) sense of taste
(c) sense of hearing (d) sense of sight
iv. The olfactory nerve links:
(a) eye and brain (b) nose and brain
(c) ear and brain (d) tongue and brain
v. Which senses of our body are closely related?
(a) touch and smell (b) smell and taste
(c) taste and hearing (d) seeing and touch
vi. Which sense organ also functions as a sense organ for temperature?
(a) nose (b) tongue
(c) ear (d) eye
3. Answer the following questions in detail.
i. Describe the structure of human eye.
ii. Describe the structure and function of inner ear.
iii. Write a note on the sense of smell.
iv. What is the importance of our tongue?
v. Write a note on our sense of touch.
4. Extend your thinking.
i. What does happen to pupil of our eyes when we switch the lamp on?

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ii. Some times as a result of a cold, the middle ear becomes filled with fluid.
Why do you think this can cause a temporary loss of hearing?
iii. What is the advantage of having a lens in the eye that can change its shape?
iv. Have you ever faced an injury of breaking of your nail? Why is it so painful?
5 Concept Map
Use following terms to complete the concept map.
skin, nose, ear, eyes, tongue, sense organs

olfactory nerve taste buds cochlea retina the largest organ

Science Projects
1 Blow up a balloon and see if you can feel sound vibrations. Hold a tube of
cardboard against the balloon and make a loud noise into it. Can you feel the
vibrations in the skin of the balloon? Your ear drum feels sound vibrations in the
same way.

2 Put water in four cups. Add salt to one, lemon juice to another and sugar to
another. Leave the fourth. Ask your friends to hold their noses and taste them.
See if they can tell the difference. Without smell, should they all taste the same?

All the sense organs are linked to the brain by nerves. When we hear a bell ring,
nerves carry a signal to our brain. Our brain tells us that we are late for school.
We must hurry. Our brain is like a big computer. It controls everything that our
body does. Why do we think a healthy brain makes our senses better? How can
we keep our brain healthy? Can mathematics and computer help us in this
regard?

Computer http://idahoptv.org/dialogue4kids/season10/senses/facts.cfm
Links http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/chsense.html

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