Types of bones, What makes up a bone, How bones work, Joints

 

Do you ever wonder how many bones are in your body, or how much you breath in a certain amount of time? Well this page is for you!

 

Diagram of the Skeleton

Skeleton

Our skeleton of bones is unbelievably important to us. If we did not have our Skeletal System our bodies would fall to the ground in a big blob of "jelly". Our skeleton helps us move, it also protects and supports us. We have approximately two hundred and six bones in or body. But you don't at all times. When you are born, you had at least three hundred bones. As you grow older some bones join together as one although some new bones are created. Each bone is stiff and unyielding which forms our skeleton. Bones are linked together by unmovable joints and are worked by muscles. The skeleton protects our most delicate parts of the body with the most protection: The Skull shields the Brain, the rib cage protects the heart and lungs. The bony framework of a full size adult is about twenty pounds. Each of the two hundred and six bones of the body has its own name. The largest bones in the skeleton are the femur and the thighbone it makes up one quarter of a persons height. The shortest bone in the human body is in the ear, the bone is called the stirrup. It is one-fourth of a centimeter. As the words in a popular bones song Dem Bones explains that each bone is connected to another bone. The skull is the top of our skeleton which goes down to form your face. The skull sits on top of your spinal column. You can feel the tiny bones that make up your spinal column. The spinal column protects the spinal chord, the main part of nerves that allows your brain send signals to the rest of your body.

 

Types of bones

Skull-

The skull is made up of 29 bones. It starts out as individual bones, and as you grow it joins together as one.The bowl shaped top section is called the cranium. It protects the brain. The cranium is made up of 8 smooth bones fit together tightly.The bones in the cranium are thin and curved. When a baby is born there are gaps called fontanels in an infant's cranial bones. Instead of bone there is a white membrane protecting the brain. By the time the baby is 15 months through 2 years of age there, fibrous, zigzagging joints called sutures will have sealed the gaps in their skull. In the front of the skull there is 14 bones that form the shape of your face. If you feel around your eyes you will feel little holes, that allows room for your eye sockets where the eyes are located. Most of the nose that we can see is made up of flexible cartilage, instead of bone. In our skull there is a hole where the nose goes. This hole leads to the nasal cavity. When you open or close your mouth one bone moves, the mandible. The mandible is the strongest and largest bone of the face. When you open or close your mouth the lower jawbone, the mandible, is the only bone that moves. On your cheekbones or your side of the skull muscles are attached. The upper jaw forms 2 large bones called maxillary bones that are joined together. Together these bones make up most of the face, along with the top of the mouth called the hard plate. Your tongue touches the hard plate when you talk, helping form your sounds. There are roots in your jawbone that hold your teeth in place. Blood vessels travel through holes in the bottom of the skull, carrying oxygen and glucose from the heart to the brain cells and then carrying away their waste products. There are also openings for nerves, which link the brain with the rest of the body.

 

Ankle-

The bones that poke out of our ankles are actually the ending of the fibula and tibia. The back of the foot where or ankle really is, it is formed by the calcaneus and 6 other bones called tarsals. There are 7 ankle bones compared to the 8 wrist bones.

 

Feet-

In the center of the foot there are 5 bones called the metatarsals. These bones are connected to the toe bones which are also called phalanges. We use are little, pinky, toe to keep our balance and we use our big toe to push off on when we walk or run. But we do not use our toes that much. Did you know that in a single foot there is up to 33 joints

 

Knee-

The kneebone, the patella, is located at the front of your joint where the 3 leg bones meet. The patella is a shield for the joint and the ligaments around it.

 

Legs-

The legs consist of 3 bones, the femur, the fibula, and the tibia. The leg bones are very similar to the arm bones just much bigger. The femur is the biggest of the leg bones it is located in the upper part of the leg. It extends from the knee to the pelvis. The tibia is located in the front of your lower leg, the shin. Alongside of it is the fibula. Again all three bones are connected by a joint at the knee.

 

 

Ribs-

The ribs are like the skull in a way, they both protect extremely important parts of the body. Although the design of the skull would not work for the ribs because the ribs need to be able to move so it allows you to breath. Altogether there are 24 ribs that protect your heart, lungs, and parts of your organs.

 

Arms-

If you feel your upper arm you will feel a rather thick bone. It is called the humerous. At the end of the bone it rounds off into a ball like object, and fits in your shoulder socket, the shoulder blade. In the forearm there are 2 separate bones, the radius and the ulna. If you were to hold up your arm with your wrist facing up you would feel the radius on the thumb side. If you were to rotate your arm 180 degrees so your wrist is facing down you would feel the ulna. The three bones are connected by a joint at the elbow.

 

 

Hands-

The design of your hand is made by 5 long bones called metacarpals. The bones of the fingers are called phalanges. These are connected to the metacarpals. In each finger there are three bones and in the thumb there are only 2. there are 27 in all.

 

Wrist-

The wrists are made up of 8 little bones, carparal bones, that fit together like interlocking pebbles. The carparal bones are joined together by ligaments. You do not always have 8 carparal bones when you are born you have 0 but as you get older you have as many as 8.

 

Did You Know?

Every time you breath, twenty-four ribs, twelve vertebrae, and a three part breast bone move. These bones move over five-million times a year. Which means you breath about five million times a year. Wow, that means we all breath approximately fifty-million times over a ten year span.