Have you seen a bacteria under a microscope? Some have really cool shapes. Let’s discover five beautiful bacteria facts for kids.
Bacteria cells also have a flagellum attached, which is a hair-like structure that looks like a tail. It is essential for the movement of bacteria. The plural of flagellum is flagella. The word “flagellum” means “whip”. The flagella have a whip-like appearance that helps to propel a bacterial cell through the liquid. Bacterial flagella rotate like screws. Not all bacteria have a flagellum.
Some bacteria which are known as pathogens can be harmful. Some examples of pathogens are pneumonia, tonsillitis or food poisoning. Pathogens can cause diseases in many living things, including animals and plants. This harmful bacteria can enter the human body through the nose, the mouth, or cuts in the skin and quickly reproduce and cause infection. Our immune system in our bodies can work hard to fight off these illnesses and threats.
Bacteria are one of the earliest forms of life. Bacteria are all around us in the environment, the air, in the ground, on our skin, in our food and in our bodies. They are single-celled organisms. This means that they are only made up of only single cell. The human body is made up of a lot of bacteria, and your gut contains the most bacteria. Scientists have claimed that bacteria have been around for more than 3.5 billion years. Although bacteria have existed for billions of years, they were only discovered in 1674, by Dutch scientist Antonie van Leeuwenhoek.
Some bacteria can actually be quite beneficial, for example some bacteria can help us to function properly such as bacteria that helps with food digestion in the gut. It has been said that eating bacteria that is similar to the bacteria in the body has great health benefits. Probiotics contain bacteria and are often taken to prevent and treat health conditions, in particular gut health.
Bacteria can be found in three shapes: coccus, bacillus and spiral. Coccus bacteria is a round or spherical shaped bacteria. The plural of coccus is cocci. Bacillus is rod shaped bacteria, which can be found all around us in the environment and in the human body. This type of bacteria is also used to make food and drink such as beer, cheese and yoghurt. The plural of bacillus is bacilli. The last type of bacteria is spirilla which looks as it sounds. Spirilla bacteria are long spiral shaped bacterial cells that can survive without any oxygen, making them very durable.
We hope you enjoyed learning more things about bacteria as much as we loved teaching you about them. Now that you know how majestic this component in human body is, you can move on to learn about other ones and our human body like: Stomach, Cells, Microorganisms and cardiovascular system.
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