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Sense Organs & Senses
By peace | January 3, 2007
How does man survive in this world? Man has been around for almost 2 million years. Man has to face many things daily. He is exposed to sights, sounds, smells, forces and tastes. How does man process all this information? Man needs special organs to help him process all this information. The sense organs enables man to survive.
What are sense organs? A sense organ is a part of the body which can sense the surrounding. It specially receives information from the outside environment. It also sends out information to the brain. Man has five senses. Each of our senses is given by a separate sense organ. Thus, man has five sense organs. Our five sense organs are our eyes, ears, nose, skin and tongue.
Our Five Senses
1. Our Eyes And Sight
The eyes sees things. It helps us to move about without endangering ourselves. The eyes allow us to see what we do. We can also learn a lot about the world around us. It would be unfortunate if we lost our sense of sight. Not only would it be difficult to move around, we will miss out on many sights.
2. Our Ears And Hearing
The world is filled with sounds. How do we pick up these sounds? The ear is the organ of hearing. When a person is unable to hear any sounds, we say he is deaf. A deaf person is one who loses his sense of hearing. The ear is responsible for hearing. This means that there is some damage or fault in the ear when a person is deaf.
The outer ear is shaped for collecting sounds. It then directs the sound along the ear canal to the eardrum. The sound causes the eardrum to vibrate. The vibrations stimulate the tiny hairs on the nerve. These nerves send electrical impulses to the brain. It enables us to tell one sound from another.
3. Our Nose And Smell
The organ for smell is the nose. Special nerve endings known as smell receptors are found at the back of the nose. Man has between 7 and 15 different kinds of smell receptors. These smell receptors are sensitive to chemicals in the air breathed in through the nostrils.
By smelling, we know if something is pleasant or unpleasant. This often helps us to judge whether we will like or dislike an object, especially food. Taste and smell are closely related. Thus, it is difficult to tell different food apart if your nose is blocked.
In addition, smell can help us to detect any poisonous gas leaks. We can escape from this to prevent ourselves from being poisoned.
4. Our Tongue And Taste
The tongue is the organ for taste. It contains as many as 10 000 taste buds. The tongue can taste four main types of tastes: sweet, salty, sour and bitter. When we taste something these four basic tastes are combined together with the use of the sense of smell.
The tongue is used for tasting food. It enables food to be differentiated from one another. In this way, we can enjoy our food. Our sense of taste also helps us to detect any poisonous substances in food.
5. Our Skin And Touch
Man’s skin is filled with touch-sensitive hairs. The sense of touch enables one to detect a variety of things. For example, the skin can detect pain, heat, cold and pressure.
The skin can sense the changes in the environment. The nerve endings found beneath the skin send signals to the brain. The brain will then send out messages to the related parts of the body to act accordingly. For example, when an ant bites you on the leg, you will feel pain. The pain is carried to the brain. The brain then sends a message down to the hand. The message enables the hand to flick the ant away.
In the same way, many messages are sent to the brain. The brain will sort out the signals and messages are sent to the respective parts of the body. Our skin can sense things. This helps us to be aware of the environment and to protect ourselves from harm or danger.
Each of our senses provides us with information about one aspect of the world around us. Specially developed systems within the eye, ear, nose, tongue and skin translate sensory information into electrical signals which are passed along the nervous system to the brain. The brain can then understand and process this information, enabling you to see, hear, smell, taste and feel.
Although the senses work independently of one another, they can also work together, compensating for each other or adding to the information the brain receives. The senses of smell and taste, for instance, are closely linked. By itself, the tongue can only distinguish four tastes — sweet, sour, bitter, and salty. The nose, however, can distinguish tens of thousands of scents. Food odours pass through the back of the throat and enter the nose. These odours determine how food taste. Because smell influences taste so much, people are unable to taste food properly when their noses are blocked.
Sensing F
lowers
Our five senses helps us to appreciate the beauties of flowers in our life. With our eyes, we are able to see flowers around us. We can see different types of flowers, of different range of colours. We can smell the fragrance of flowers with our nose. With our hands, our skin allows us to feel the flowers. We can feel the leathery petals of flowers and we can feel the sharp thorns of roses. Our tongue helps us to taste food. Our sense of taste allow us to savour the taste of chrysanthemum tea.
Our five senses make our life so much fun and interesting. Sending and receiving gifts of flowers are made possible through senses. Receiving flowers bring pleasure and smile to our life.
Topics: All Posts, Children, Man's health, Mental Health, Woman's Health |
