NCERT Solutions for Class 6 Chapter 10 Living Creatures: Exploring their Characteristics – MyNoteswala

🌾 Q.1. How would you now categorise a seed — as living or non-living? (Page 191)

✅ Answer: A seed is living, even though it looks inactive and shows no movement. 🌱

Inside the seed, there is a tiny living part (embryo) that can grow into a new plant when it gets air, water, and warmth.

💡 Example: When a dry seed is planted and watered, it germinates and grows — proving that it is alive. 🌿💧

💡 Did You Know? Some seeds, like lotus or date palm seeds, can remain alive for hundreds of years before sprouting again! 🌼

🦟 Q.2. How can the life cycle of a mosquito be disrupted? (Page 197)

✅ Answer: The life cycle of a mosquito can be disrupted by pouring kerosene oil over the water surface where mosquitoes breed. 💧

The kerosene forms a thin layer that blocks air from reaching the larvae and pupae.
Since they cannot breathe, they die, and the life cycle stops. ☠️

💡 Did You Know? Mosquitoes lay eggs in stagnant water — keeping our surroundings clean and dry is the best way to prevent them from multiplying! 🚫🦟💦

✨ Let Us Enhance Our Learning 📘

Q1.❓ List the similarities and differences in the life cycles of plants and animals.

💬 Answer:

🌿 Similarities:

1️⃣ Both plants and animals are living beings.
2️⃣ Both grow, reproduce, and die after completing their life cycle.
3️⃣ Both pass through different stages from young to adult.
4️⃣ Both need air, water, and food to survive.

🐾 Differences:

🌱 Plants	🐕 Animals
Begin life as a seed.	Begin life as a young one or egg.
Make their own food using sunlight (photosynthesis). ☀️	Depend on other organisms for food. 🍽️
Fixed in one place; do not move.	Can move from place to place.
Grow continuously throughout life.	Growth stops after becoming an adult.
Show little change in body form during life.	Many show major changes (like frog or mosquito — metamorphosis). 🦟🐸

Q2.❓ The table shows some data. Study the data and find out examples suitable for the given conditions in the second and third columns. If you think that an example is not possible, explain why.

💬 Answer:

🧾 S. No.	🌱 Does it grow?	💨 Does it respire?	🌍 Example	🗒️ Remarks
1️⃣	No	No	Stone / Chair / Pencil 🪨✏️	Non-living things — do not grow or respire.
2️⃣	No	Yes	Adult human / Cow 👩🐄	Living beings — growth stops after maturity, but respiration continues.
3️⃣	Yes	No	Salt crystal / Icicle 🧂❄️	Non-living — shows increase in size by deposition, not real biological growth (no respiration).
4️⃣	Yes	Yes	Seedling / Puppy / Child 🌱🐶👦	Living beings — both grow and respire actively.

✅ Conclusion:

✅ Only living things both grow and respire.
✅ Some non-living things appear to grow (like crystals), but they don’t breathe or show other signs of life.
✅ Growth without respiration is not a sign of life.

Q.3❓ You have learnt that different conditions are required for seed germination. How can we use this knowledge for proper storage of grains and pulses?

💬 Answer: Seeds need air, water, and warmth to germinate. 🌱

To store grains and pulses properly, we must remove these conditions so that they do not germinate or spoil.

✅ Therefore:

✅ Keep grains dry — no moisture 💧
✅ Store them in airtight containers — no air 🌬️
✅ Keep them in a cool, dry place — away from heat ☀️

By doing this, seeds cannot germinate or get attacked by insects, and the grains remain fresh for a long time. 🌾

Q4.❓ You have learnt that a tail is present in a tadpole but it disappears as it grows into a frog. What is the advantage of having a tail in the tadpole stage?

💬 Answer: The tail helps the tadpole to swim in water. 🐸💧

At this stage, the tadpole lives entirely in water, and the tail helps it to move, balance, and escape from enemies. 🌀

When the tadpole grows into a frog, it develops legs for movement on land, and the tail is no longer needed, so it disappears. 🌿

Q5.❓ Vijay says that a wooden log is non-living as it cannot move. Garima disagrees and says it is living because it is made of wood obtained from trees. Give your arguments in favour or against their statements.

💬 Answer:

✅ In favour of Vijay:

✅ The wooden log is non-living.
✅ It cannot grow, respire, reproduce, or respond to surroundings.
✅ Movement alone is not the only sign of life, but absence of all life processes proves it is non-living.

❌ Against Garima:

❌ Although the wood came from a living tree,
once it is cut off, it no longer shows any characteristics of life.
❌ So, even though it was part of a living thing, it is now dead and non-living.

👉 Conclusion:

The wooden log is non-living, because it does not perform any life processes like respiration, growth, or reproduction. 🌳✖️

Q6.❓ What are the similarities and distinguishing features in the life cycles of a mosquito and a frog?

💬 Answer:

🌿 Similarities:

1️⃣ Both mosquito and frog begin life as eggs laid in water. 🥚💧
2️⃣ Both pass through different stages of development before becoming adults. 🔄
3️⃣ Both show metamorphosis — a major change in body structure from young to adult. 🦟🐸
4️⃣ In both life cycles, the young ones live in water, while the adult forms can live on land. 🌊➡️🌍

🦟 Distinguishing Features:

🧩 Feature	🦟 Mosquito	🐸 Frog
Stages in Life Cycle	Egg → Larva → Pupa → Adult	Egg → Tadpole → Froglet → Adult
Habitat	All early stages (egg, larva, pupa) live in water; adult flies in air.	Eggs and tadpoles live in water; adult frog lives on land and in water.
Breathing	Larva and pupa breathe air from the surface.	Tadpole breathes through gills; adult frog through lungs and skin.
Change Type	From aquatic larva to flying insect.	From aquatic tadpole to land-dwelling frog.
Body Change	Develops wings and legs. 🪽	Develops legs; tail disappears. 🦵

✅ Conclusion:

Both mosquito and frog undergo metamorphosis, but their body forms, habitats, and breathing methods are different during their life cycles.

Q7.❓A plant is provided with all the conditions suitable for its growth (given diagram). Draw what you expect to see in the shoot and the root of the plant after one week. Write down the reasons.

Diagram: shoot bending upward toward sunlight and root growing downward into soil

Expected: shoot curves toward light; root grows downward into soil.

💬 Answer:

After one week, you will observe that —
🌿 The shoot will bend upward toward light (phototropism).
🌱 The root will grow downward into the soil (geotropism).

🧠 Reason:

• Shoot grows toward sunlight for photosynthesis (Phototropism).
• Root grows downward to access water and minerals (Geotropism).

🪴 Conclusion:

Even if the pot is placed sideways, the plant adjusts its growth — shoots move upward and roots move downward, showing response to stimuli.

Q8.❓ Tara and Vijay set up the experiment shown in Fig. What do you think they want to find out? How will they know if they are correct?

Experiment setup showing seed with root growing downward and shoot growing upward toward light

Experiment: studying how roots and shoots grow in response to gravity and light.

💬 Answer:

🌱 Aim of the Experiment:
Tara and Vijay want to find out the direction of growth of the root and shoot of a germinating seed — that is, to study how plants respond to gravity and light. 🌞🌍

🧠 What They Expect to Observe:
🌿 Roots of the seedlings will always grow downward (toward gravity). ⬇️
🌱 Shoots will always grow upward (toward light). ⬆️
✨ This happens no matter how the seed is placed in the soil — whether upright, sideways, or upside down.

🔍 How They Will Know They Are Correct:
⏳ After a few days:
🌿 If the roots bend and grow downward and the shoots bend upward, then it proves that —
🌍 Roots show positive geotropism (growth toward gravity).
🌞 Shoots show negative geotropism (growth away from gravity).

✅ Conclusion:

Tara and Vijay will confirm that plant parts grow in specific directions — 🌱 roots toward gravity and 🌿 shoots toward light and away from gravity.

Q9.❓ Design an experiment to check if temperature has an effect on seed germination.

💬 Answer:

🌿 Aim: To find out whether temperature affects the germination of seeds.

⚙️ Materials Required:
🌾 4 identical trays or cups
💧 Moist cotton or tissue paper
🌱 8–10 bean seeds (same type)
🌡️ Thermometer
🏷️ Labels and marker
💦 Water
❄️ Refrigerator (for low temperature)
☀️ A warm place or sunlight (for high temperature)

🔬 Procedure:
1️⃣ Label the trays as A, B, C, and D.
2️⃣ Place moist cotton or tissue in each tray and put equal numbers of seeds in each.
3️⃣ Keep all trays in different temperature conditions:
🧊 Tray A → in refrigerator (cold) ❄️
🌤️ Tray B → in a cool place
🏠 Tray C → at room temperature
☀️ Tray D → near a warm area
4️⃣ Make sure all trays get the same amount of water and air.
5️⃣ Observe for 7–10 days and record the number of seeds that germinate in each tray.

📊 Observation Table:

Tray	Temperature Condition	Number of Seeds Germinated	Observation
A	Very cold ❄️	0	No germination
B	Cool 🌤️	Few	Slow germination
C	Room temperature 🏠	Most	Fastest germination
D	Hot ☀️	None or few	Too much heat stops germination

🧠 Conclusion:

🌱 Seed germination depends on temperature.
🌞 Moderate (warm) temperature helps seeds germinate best.
❄️🔥 Too cold or too hot conditions slow down or stop germination.

🌾 Q.1. How would you now categorise a seed — as living or non-living? (Page 191)

🦟 Q.2. How can the life cycle of a mosquito be disrupted? (Page 197)

✨ Let Us Enhance Our Learning 📘

Q1.❓ List the similarities and differences in the life cycles of plants and animals.

Q2.❓ The table shows some data. Study the data and find out examples suitable for the given conditions in the second and third columns. If you think that an example is not possible, explain why.

Q.3❓ You have learnt that different conditions are required for seed germination. How can we use this knowledge for proper storage of grains and pulses?

Q4.❓ You have learnt that a tail is present in a tadpole but it disappears as it grows into a frog. What is the advantage of having a tail in the tadpole stage?

Q5.❓ Vijay says that a wooden log is non-living as it cannot move. Garima disagrees and says it is living because it is made of wood obtained from trees. Give your arguments in favour or against their statements.

Q6.❓ What are the similarities and distinguishing features in the life cycles of a mosquito and a frog?

Q7.❓A plant is provided with all the conditions suitable for its growth (given diagram). Draw what you expect to see in the shoot and the root of the plant after one week. Write down the reasons.

Q8.❓ Tara and Vijay set up the experiment shown in Fig. What do you think they want to find out? How will they know if they are correct?

Q9.❓ Design an experiment to check if temperature has an effect on seed germination.

📚 Explore More Class 6 Chapters (Questions and Answers)

Leave a Comment Cancel Reply