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Why a malignant tumour… (Class 12 Biology 2023, Q20b)

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BiologyCBSE Class 12 · Board exam 2023, set 57/5/1 · 2 marks · Very short answer

CBSE Class 12 Biology 2023: question 20(b)

Set in the CBSE Class 12 board exam of 2023, paper 57/5/1, section B, question 20(b), for 2 marks. Try it first; the hints and our step-by-step solution are below.

Q20(b) · 2 marks · Very short answerHuman Health and Disease

Why a malignant tumour considered to be more damaging than a benign tumour ? Explain.

Source: official question paper from cbse.gov.in (PDF). See it in the full 2023 board paper, set 57/5/1.

Hints

Open one hint at a time and try again before the next.

Hint 1

Compare where each type of tumour stays in the body.

Hint 2

Think of the term for the spread of tumour cells to new sites.

Step-by-step solution

Each step shows the marks it earns, as an examiner would award them. Checked by an independent re-solve from the question paper.

  1. A benign tumour stays confined to its original site and causes little damage. Malignant tumour cells, in contrast, grow very rapidly, compete with normal cells for vital nutrients and starve them. They also invade and damage the surrounding normal tissues.

    1 mark

  2. Malignant cells break away, travel through the blood and set up new tumours in distant parts of the body. This is called metastasis, and it is why malignant tumours are far more dangerous.

    1 mark

Answer: A malignant tumour grows rapidly, starves and invades normal tissues, and spreads to other organs by metastasis, whereas a benign tumour stays localised.

Where the marks are

  • Rapid growth that starves normal cells by competing for nutrients, or invasion and damage of surrounding tissue (1 mark)
  • Metastasis: spread to distant body parts through blood (1 mark)

Revise the chapter

Practise this chapterBoard-style questions from Human Health and Disease, one at a time, marked against the answer key and marking points.Back to the full paper2023 board paper, set 57/5/1: every question, by section.

The question is transcribed from the official paper; figures are described in words. The solution, hints and chapter tag are ours. Spotted an error? Write tosupport@questionbuddy.in.