The Skeletal System By: Davis Runion Ms. Sullivan 3/27/13

Basic Info. The Skeletal system is a crucial part of the Human Body. All humans are vertebrates, meaning that they have bones, ligaments, tendons, and cartilage. The human’s bones are what give the specimen the ability to stand up straight. The bones are held together by tendons and ligaments. Cartilage is the cushion in between a human’s bones. If a human were to be boneless, their body would have no support and they would collapse into a heap on the floor. Bones are perfect support for the human body, for they are light enough to leave a person mobile, but strong enough not to snap unless under great force. Bones also provide great protection for a human’s organs, and other fragile tissues. Some of the major organs protected by a human’s bones are the brain, eyes, heart, lungs and spinal cord. The skeleton also offers the ability of movement, for they are what muscles act against to allow a person to move.

Protection Bones are great for the protection of organs and tissues. For example, when a package is shipped, the contents are neatly packed into the box, sort of like the brain is packed into the skull. When a package is dropped, the box takes all the damage; when a human hits their head, the skull takes the impact, protecting the brain. The ribs are also important for protection. Without the ribs, the person’s lungs, heart, and many other organs and soft tissues would be left unprotected. /images/en/8907.jpg

Movement The bones are also crucial for a person to be able to move. A persons legs consist of many “accessory” bones and many necessary bones. There are many joints in the legs, one of the major being the knee. In the knee, there is cartilage, tendons, and ligaments.

What It All looks like 

Fun Facts Our bones are six times stronger than steel if both are of the same weight. The size of the smallest bone is equivalent to the size of a grain of rice. Of the 206 bones in the skeletal system, 52 of them make both our feet.

Skeletal System’s role in Homeostasis The biggest way that the bones play a role in homeostasis is by regulating the amount of calcium in a person’s body. The bones work sort of like a filter, allowing only certain amounts of calcium in the blood. Too much calcium would be called hypercalcemia, while too little would be called hypocalcemia.