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Describe the characteristics of arteries, veins, and capillaries, focusing on the thickness of their walls, the size of their lumen, and the presence of valves in veins.

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Cambridge IGCSE BiologyTransport in animalsCore content

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Describe the characteristics of arteries, veins, and capillaries, focusing on the thickness of their walls, the size of their lumen, and the presence of valves in veins

This point belongs to Blood vessels, especially Blood vessels outcomes.
You need to be able to describe the characteristics of arteries, veins, and capillaries, focusing on the thickness of their walls, the size of their lumen, and the presence of valves in veins.
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Describe

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Paper 3 structured question: Blood vessels

Paper 3Theory (Core)2 marks

Diagram Description

Diagram of blood vessels

A diagram shows three types of blood vessels: artery, vein, and capillary. The artery has a thick wall and narrow lumen, the vein has a thinner wall and wider lumen with valves, and the capillary has a very thin wall and very narrow lumen.

Characteristic	Artery	Vein	Capillary
Wall thickness	Thick	Thin	One cell thick
Lumen size	Narrow	Wide	Very narrow
Valves present	No	Yes	No

a
Describe the differences in wall thickness between arteries, veins, and capillaries.
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[2]

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