Question

The number of eggs produced in a year by an ovary of a non-pregnant woman is
a. 12
b. 6
c. 24
d. 48

Answer 1

Hint: The process of release of an egg from the ovary is called ovulation, once ovulation occurs the eggs travel from the fallopian tube to the uterus where the fertilization occurs if the sperm fuse, usual ovulation occurs in the middle of women menstrual cycle.

Complete answer:
- Normally eggs are formed at the age of the fetus, in the womb of the mother itself.
- By the time of birth generally, a female child has about 7 million eggs in the ovary.
- Once the birth occurs, the count of eggs reduces, where it is reduced to 2 million.
- By reaching the age of puberty and attaining menstruation, a female has an average of 3 lac to 5 lac eggs remaining.
- So during the menstrual cycle, one egg ripens and releases from the ovary, and this is called ovulation.
- So a female ovulates one egg per month, and the follicle egg activates when it is ovulated and releases hormones, where this ripen egg travels through the fallopian tube.
- In the fallopian tube, the egg stays for 1 whole day, if the sperm reaches fertilization takes place, if not it undergoes destruction, and the release to outside in menstruation generally occurs 11 to 16 days after ovulation.
- So females consist of a pair of ovaries, and in a month only ovary releases one egg, so throughout the year, both ovaries together release 12 eggs, but a single ovary releases 6 eggs.

Hence, the correct answer is option (B).

Note: Generally the maturation of eggs takes 14 days approximately, it occurs in two phases, wherein the initial phase every month thousands of eggs mature, but when hormones are getting raised and stimulation occurs, only one egg becomes dominant among all and releases from the ovary.