Name _______________________________________ Date ______________ Period ______

Circulatory and Respiratory System Assessment

Directions: Read the statements and answer the questions

1. A person measures the levels of carbon dioxide and oxygen in the blood before and after the blood passes through the lungs. Which of the following pairs of graphs shows the changes in carbon dioxide and the changes in oxygen in the blood before and after passing through blood vessels in the lungs?

2. Which of the following statements is TRUE about the movement of oxygen molecules between the lungs and cells of the body?

A. Most oxygen molecules move from the lungs to cells of the body by entering microscopically small blood vessels (capillaries) and then moving to cells through the circulatory system.

B. Most oxygen molecules move from cells of the body to the lungs by moving through the circulatory system and then leaving the circulatory system by way of capillaries at the lungs.

C. Most oxygen molecules move from the lungs to the heart by way of special respiratory tubes where the oxygen molecules mix with the blood. Blood then moves to cells of the body by way of the circulatory system.

D. Oxygen molecules enter and leave the body by way of lungs, but they do not move between the lungs and the blood.

Montgomery County Public SchoolsCommon Task – Matter and Energy Flow in Organisms

Name _______________________________________ Date ______________ Period ______

Directions: Read the passage and answer the questions.

1. Shining my headlamp on a dime-store thermometer clipped to the parka I'd been using as a pillow, I saw that the temperature inside the cramped two-person tent was seven degrees below zero . . . Shivering hard, I zipped my body into three layers of fuzzy polypropylene pile underwear and an outer shell of windproof nylon, then pulled my clunky plastic boots on. Yanking the laces tight made me wince in pain; for the past two weeks the condition of my cracked, bleeding fingertips had been steadily deteriorating in the cold air.

2. [Fingertips and toes get the coldest because of their small size. They don't have large blood vessels and in cold temperatures less blood circulates through these "extremities," making them much colder.]

3. It was late morning by the time I finally [got] into Camp Three: a trio of small yellow tents . . . on a platform that had been hewn from the icy slope by our Sherpas [local guides]. When I arrived, Lhakpa Chhiri and Arita were still hard at work on a platform for a fourth tent, so I took off my pack and helped them chop. At 24,000 feet, I could manage only seven or eight blows of my ice ax before having to pause for more than a minute to catch my breath. . .

4. As the afternoon wore on, I began to feel woozy from the fierce solar radiation—at least I hoped it was the heat that was making me stupid, and not the onset of cerebral edema. A baffling ailment, High Altitude Cerebral Edema (HACE) occurs when fluid leaks from oxygen-starved cerebral blood vessels, causing severe swelling of the brain, and it can strike with little or no warning. As pressure builds inside the skull, motor and mental skills deteriorate with alarming speed— typically within a few hours or less—and often without the victim even noticing the change. . .

Montgomery County Public SchoolsCommon Task – Matter and Energy Flow in Organisms

Name _______________________________________ Date ______________ Period ______

5. [After spending two nights at Camp Three to adjust to the oxygen-thin air, the expedition descended to Base Camp at 17,600 feet to gather their strength for the summit push. Then they returned to Camp Three.]

6. As darkness enveloped the camp, our guides handed out oxygen canisters, regulators, and masks to everyone: for the remainder of the climb we would be breathing compressed gas . . .

7. Bottled oxygen does not make the top of Everest feel like sea level. Climbing above the South Summit with my regulator delivering just under two liters of oxygen per minute, I had to stop and draw three or four lungfuls of air after each ponderous step—and this was the fastest pace I could manage 29,000 feet with gas felt like approximately 26,000 feet without gas. But the bottled oxygen conferred other benefits that weren't so easily quantified.

8. Climbing along the blade of the summit ridge, sucking gas into my ragged lungs, I enjoyed a strange, unwarranted sense of calm . . . I had to remind myself over and over that there was 7,000 feet of sky on either side, that everything was at stake here, that I would pay for a single bungled step with my life. . .

9. Reaching the top of Everest is supposed to trigger a surge of intense elation; against all odds, after all, I had just attained a goal I'd coveted since childhood. But the summit was really only the halfway point. Any impulse I might have felt toward self-congratulation was extinguished by overwhelming apprehension about the long, dangerous descent that lay ahead.

Adapted from Into Thin Air. [Reading Passage]. Available from http://www.discoveryeducation.com/

3. According to paragraph 2, which best explains why fingers and toes get cold first.A. They are farthest from the heart.B. They contain smaller blood vessels, capillaries that less blood can circulate through.C. They contain larger blood vessels, arteries and veins that more blood can circulate

through.D. They contain larger blood vessels, arteries and veins that carry heat away from the

fingers and toes.

Montgomery County Public SchoolsCommon Task – Matter and Energy Flow in Organisms

Name _______________________________________ Date ______________ Period ______

4. Which best explains the following statement?

“At 24,000 feet, I could manage only seven or eight blows of my ice ax before having to pause for more than a minute to catch my breath. . .”

A. Muscles tire more quickly in cold weather.B. The heart was beating too quickly.C. Not enough Oxygen was getting to muscles from the circulatory or respiratory

system.D. Too much Oxygen was getting to muscles from the circulatory or respiratory system.

5. Why did the climbers need “Oxygen canisters” once they reached a certain altitude (height) on the mountain?

A. The air was too cold for them to breathe normally.B. There was not enough Oxygen in the air for their bodies to function normally.C. There was too much Carbon Dioxide in the air for their bodies to function normally.D. The Oxygen canisters removed symptoms of HACE.

6. In the space below, describe how the circulatory, respiratory and muscular systems worked together to help the climbers reach the top of the mountain. In your answer, be sure to include the names of specific organs and explain their function.

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Montgomery County Public SchoolsCommon Task – Matter and Energy Flow in Organisms