Both Canon 400D and Canon SX10 IS have 10.0 MP resolution sensors but Canon 400D's sensor is APS-C (22.2 x 14.8 mm ) and Canon SX10 IS's sensor is 1/2.3-inch (6.17 x 4.55 mm ).
Since Canon 400D's has a larger sensor area with the same resolution, this means that it also has a larger pixel area hence better light collecting capacity for a given aperture compared to Canon SX10 IS.
Below you can see the 400D and SX10 IS sensor size comparison.
As seen above, Canon 400D has a 11.7x Larger sensor area than Canon SX10 IS. Larger sensors give photographer more control on the depth of field and blurry background compared to smaller sensor when shot in same focal length and aperture.