Look at all those bones!
All the bones in your body, from your head to your toes, have scientific names that you will need to know. For example, your upper arm bone has a secret identity of the humerus. The long hand bones are the metacarpals. And the jawbone goes by the name of mandible.
how 'bout them bones?
The average adult human has 206 bones in their body. These bones are connected to ligaments and cartilage and help the body keep its shape.
two halves of a whole
The human skeleton is actually made of two main parts- the axil skeleton and the appendicular skeleton. The axil skeleton has 80 bones in the top of your body, and the appendicular has 126 in the lower half.
they come from where?
Bone marrow isn't just the stuff in hollow bones. It actually creates red blood cells, little 'air taxis' that provide oxygen to your body when they squeeze through capillaries.
joints are people, too
Bones are more than the framework of your body. They're also the reason I'm here typing this website. Joints at the ends of bones are helping my fingers bend and flex to reach the keys.
big baby!
Newborn children are so cute and small- but they actually have 300 total bones in their bodies. That's 94 more than the average adult! The extra bones eventually fuse together into the axil skeleton.
femur
prizewinners
And the winners are... The stirrup, the femur, and the femur! That's right, the femur is both the largest and the hardest bone in your body. The stirrup, a tiny bone in your ear, takes the prize for the smallest bone in the human body.
three's a magic number
Bones aren't just compact bone. That's only the outer layer. They're pretty soft when you get down to the spongy bone, and they have a hollow center filled with marrow.
variety pack
Joints come in four styles. We'll help you figure out which one's right for you. Ball and socket joints offer freedom to move in all directions. Gliding joints in your fingers offer flexibility, but not much distance. Hinge joints are easy to move with, but only bend in one direction. Pivot joints offer movement of a bone around another central bone, like when you shake your head.
teamwork!
The skeletal system can't support, move and think for your body all by itself. It is assisted by multiple other body systems. It collaborates most closely with the muscular system. Their combined efforts both support your body with bones and move the framework to help you get around.
talk to the hand
The hand has 27 bones! That makes up more than half of the bones in your arm. It even beats out the foot (26 bones). The orange bones are the carpals, the reddish bones are the metacarpals, and the blue bones are the phalanges.
comparison
The picture above is of a dinosaur femur. The apatosaurus' femur is as tall as this man. The bone next to the euro is a human stirrup. A euro coin is about the size of a U.S. quarter.