During sexual intercourse, the male’s erect penis enters the female’s vagina. Friction between the penis and the vagina results in the release of semen (ejaculation) into the vagina. The sperm in semen use their tails to swim through the cervix and uterus to the fallopian tubes.
2. Fertilisation
Fertilisation is the fusion of the male sperm (23 chromosomes) and the female egg (23 chromosomes) to form a zygote with 46 chromosomes. This takes place in the fallopian tube.
3. Implantation
The zygote cell divides in the fallopian tube until an embryo is formed.
Around five days after fertilisation, the embryo is embedded in the blood-vessel-lined uterus wall. This is called implantation.
Sperm Egg
:Fig. 12.4 A sperm fertilising an egg Embryo
Fertilisation
Zygote
Cell divides
Ball of identical cells :Fig. 12.5 After fertilisation, the zygote cell divides to form the embryo ahead of implantation ? TEST TUBE
7. Describe the process of implantation. In your answer, use the following terms: ‘zygote’, ‘embryo’ and ‘blood vessels lining the uterus’.