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Skeletal System

Skeletal System On the movie classics television station, have you ever seen that funky 1958 Steve McQueen movie, The Blob? An oozing, jello-like space creature slithers around a small, rural town and, of course, eats everyone it encounters. Well, if you didn't have a skeletal system, you would look just like the blob......

Sample the following internet sites and complete the activities for each one to learn more about the bones that hold you together.

The Skeletal System

One pound of bone is stronger than one pound of reinforced concrete.

  1. What are 3 purposes of the skeletal system?
  2. What is the tough, smooth, shiny substance called that is at the end of each bone?
  3. What keeps our bones from scratching and bumping against each other when we move?
  4. What are the long stretchy bands that hold our bones together?

 

Skeletal System

Bones develop from cartliage. Babies are born with a large amount of cartilage and more bones than adults. These bones eventually fuse together to form the normal number of adult bones. Much of the cartilage in babies grows into bone. Certain bone cells cause minerals to be deposited in the cartilage which makes it harder and stronger. Bone tissue begins to develop at the center of the cartilage, and blood vessels carry nutrients to the developing bone. As more bone tissue is formed, the bones grows longer. Eventually, the center of the bone is fully formed. A baby's bones are soft, but the gradually become harder and softer as more minerals are deposited. This hardening process is called ossification. As a child grows, new bone tissue is made between the head of the bone and its shaft in special areas called growth plates or growth zones. This is how we grow and get taller. Some cartilage remains at the ends of the bones to protect them. In other places, cartilage remains throughout life and does not turn into bone. This is the case with noses. Noses are shaped by cartilage--not bone.

  1. What would happen if you didn't have bones?
  2. Are bones alive? Explain.
  3. What percentage of the creatures on earth do not have a backbone?
  4. How many bones are in your face?
  5. Who has more bones in their necks--humans or giraffes?
  6. How many joints do you have in your body?

 

Inside A Bone

The top of your skull is made up of separate bones which gradually grow and fuse together along areas called sutures. Men's skulls are slightly thicker than women's skulls. (This is not an editorial comment--it is true!)

  1. What are the 2 types of bone? What is the difference between the two?
  2. What is at the center of bones? What is its purpose?

 

The Vertebral Column (Spine)

The tallest known man was Robert Pershing Wadlow. He was a normal length when he was born in 1918 in Illinois. By the time he was 8 years old, he was 6 feet tall and weighed about 170 pounds. When he died in 1940 at age 22, he was 8 feet 11 inches tall. The tallest known woman was Zeng Jinlian from China who was 8 feet 1 inch tall.

  1. What is in between each vertebrae and what purpose does it serve?
  2. How many vertebrae do humans have?
  3. How is a human spine different from most other mammals? How does this difference benefit humans?
  4. What are the three types of vertebrae?

 

The Ribs

Rickets is a disease caused by lack of vitamin D. It causes bones to become soft and misshapen.

  1. What is another name for the breastbone?
  2. How many pairs of ribs do most humans have?
  3. What connects the ribs to the sternum?
  4. What protective function does the ribcage serve?

 

Lower Extremities

When you are 70 years old, you may be noticeably shorter than when you were 25. This is because sometimes the cartilage in the joints between the vertebrae shrink and become thinner.

  1. How many bones do you have in your foot?
  2. Where are your tarsal bones? (They're in two different places).
  3. Where are your metatarsal and phalange bones?
  4. How does the arch in your foot help you?
  5. What is the longest bone in your body?

 

Upper Extremities

A person's height is usually about 4 times the length of his or her femur (long bone in the thigh).

  1. How many bones are in your hands?
  2. What 3 bones make up your arm?

 

The Bone Zone

Some bones form a framework for our bodies to support it and protect our internal organs. Other bones are designed for movement.

  1. What is your knee bone called?

 

The Virtual Body

There are 29 bones in your head--14 in your face, 8 in your cranium, 6 inside your ears, and 1 at the top of your throat.

  1. You will need to have the plugin, Shockwave, installed on your computer for this site to work at its best. >From the main page, click on "Skeleton". Next, click on "Zoom In". Click on "Select a Bone" and a pull-down menu will appear. Select occipital bone. Where is this bone?
  2. Select clavicle. Where is this bone?
  3. Select sacrum. Where is this bone?
  4. Select glabella. Where is this bone?
  5. Select humerous. Where is this bone?
  6. Select scapula. Where is this bone?
  7. Select hamate. Where is this bone?

 

Bibliography

Ganeri, Anita. Funny Bones and Other Body Parts. Simon & Schuster : New York, 1997.

Ballard, Carol. The Skeleton and Muscular System. Raintree Steck Vaughn: Austin, Texas, 1998.

Parker, Steve. Skeleton. Copper Beech Books : Brookfield, Connecticut, 1996.

Parker, Steve. The Skeleton and Movement. Franklin Watts : New York, 1989.

Simon, Seymour. Bones. Morrow Junior Books : New York, 1998.

Image is copyrighted by ArtToday. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Author: LINDA MOSBACKER - Email linda.mosbacker@slc.k12.ut.us