Besides getting rid of wastes and filtering toxins out of the

blood, it also…..

Urinary/Excretory System

Urinary/Excretory System Works closely with the digestive,

circulatory and nervous systems. As the heart pumps blood around the

body, the blood carries fresh oxygen to various cells and organs, then picks up waste products like carbon dioxide, salt and urea.

There is an artery and a vein that runs into and out of each kidney to take the blood there and back.

As the waste products arrive, the kidneys perform a filtration process that removes hazardous toxins and products that the body can not use from water and nutrients that can be reclaimed and recycled.

The kidneys return the reclaimed water back to the body, but mix the waste products into a liquid waste compound known as urine.

The kidneys direct the urine to the bladder, where it is collected and held until it is either manually expelled or forced out by involuntary muscle contractions.

The excretory system takes advantage of sweating by providing waste liquids to accomplish the cooling effect.

Sweat is not pure water; instead, it is a solution of approximately 94 percent water and six percent waste products.

By excreting weak urine through the skin's pores, the excretory system can perform the dual functions of ridding the body of waste products while also keeping it cool.

Urinary/Excretory System

Kidneys - Controls amount of water and salt in body with the following feedback loop: If too low, retains water/salt and keeps

them from going to the bladder If too high, pushes more water and salt

into the bladder

Diseases/afflictions of the urinary/excretory system

Diarrhea UTI infection Colon Cancer Constipation Kidney stone Flatulence incontinence

Activity

Data Lab: Urinalysis