35 Amazing Facts about Bones | Amazing Facts 4U
- Humans are born with 300 bones in their body, however when a person reaches adulthood they only have 206 bones. This occurs because many of them join together to make a single bone.
- There are 26 bones in the human feet. The human hands, including the wrist, contain 54 bones. The face has 14 bones and the whole skull has 30 bones. About half of our bones are in our hands and feet.
- The femur, or thigh bone, is the longest and strongest bone of the human skeleton. It is about 20 inches long.
- The stapes, in the middle ear, is the smallest and lightest bone of the human skeleton. Amazingly it only averages 2-3 mm. It is shaped like a “U.” It is the innermost bone that receives sound vibrations and passes them along to the cochlea to eventually be interpreted by the brain.
- The only bone fully grown at birth is located in the ear.
- The largest bone is the pelvis or hip bone. In fact, it is made of six bones joined firmly together.
- Our teeth form part of the skeletal system but are not counted as bones.
- The axial skeleton part of the human skeleton has 80 bones. It includes the vertebral column, the rib cage, and the skull and helps us maintain our upright posture, by spreading the weight in the head, and upper areas down to the lower areas near the hips.
- The appendicular skeletal section of our skeleton has 126 bones. It includes the pectoral (shoulder) girdles, the pelvic girdle, and the bones of the lower and upper limbs. Its function is for the movement of the body and to protect some organs.
- Adult human bones account for 14% of the body’s total weight. Although the outsides of a bone are hard, they are generally light and soft inside. Amazingly they are more than 50% water.
- Although bones appear very hard, under the surface they are more like sponges, with lots of air. This makes bones very strong, but very light.
- Human bones grow continually from birth till our mid 20’s. Our skeleton’s bone mass is at its maximum density around the age of 30.
- Bones stop growing in length during puberty. However bone density and strength will change over the course of life,
- The only bone in the human body not connected to another is the hyoid, a V-shaped bone located at the base of the tongue.
- Bones are made up of calcium, phosphorus, sodium, and other minerals, as well as the protein collagen.
- Bones function as the skeleton of the human body, allow body parts to move, and protect organs from impact damage. They also produce red and white blood cells within the bone marrow.
- Bone strength is amazing. It turns out that bone tensile, compression, and shear strength (in Kg per cubic inch) are stronger than white oak and granite when comparing compact bone to these materials. However medium steel beats bone when strength is compared.
- The amazing Fact is that your thigh bone is stronger than concrete. A block of bone a size of matchstick can support 9 tons about 4 times as much as concrete.
- As we age, our bones don’t shrink and cause us to get shorter. Normal age shrinkage does occur, but this is due to the flattening of the tissues that fill the spaces between the vertebral bodies (spine bones). As a result, we tend to shrink on average about 3cm over a lifespan and can have normal shrinkage up to 6 cm. Any shrinkage greater than 6cm is associated with increased fracture risk.
- Bones do not continue to grow after we die. It is a myth.
- Arms are among the most commonly broken bones, accounting for almost half of all adults’ broken bones.
- The most commonly fractured bone in the body, when talking about a single bone, is the clavicle, or collar bone. It can be a slight fracture, but if fully broken, it can become dangerous, as the lung sits behind it can be punctured by or bone fragments.
- The small toe bones break the easier and most often. Amazingly almost everyone has broken a toe, even a small one, in their life. It heals by itself.
- Humans and giraffes have amazingly the same number of 7 bones in their necks.
- Enamel on teeth is the hardest substance in the human body.
- The insides of some bones contain special material called bone marrow in the bone cavities. It has lots of cells which make red blood cells carrying oxygen all over the body. Amazingly every second, bone marrow produces two million red blood cells! On a daily basis, bone marrow hematopoiesis generates unbelievable 500 billion blood cells.
- Bone marrow makes up 4% of a human body mass. Besides red blood cells, it also produces lymphocytes, key components of the lymphatic system, which support the body’s immune system.
- Only one out of every 100,000 normal bone marrow cells is an uncommitted stem cell which may be converted to any cell type. These cells are critically important to researchers.
- Over a period of 7 years, each bone of the body is fully replaced.
- The ears and end of the nose do not have bones inside them. Their inner supports are cartilage or ‘gristle’, which is lighter and more flexible than bone. This is why the nose and ears can be bent.
- After death, cartilage rots faster than bone. This is why the skulls of skeletons have no nose or ears.
- Osteoporosis is the most common bone disease, which is characterized by low bone mass and deterioration of the bone structure. Osteoporosis can be prevented and treated. Low bone mass is when bones lose the minerals that make them strong, especially calcium, which makes them weak and fracture easily.
- The Amazing fact is that Evel Knievel (the USA, b. Robert Craig Knievel), the pioneer of motorcycle long jumping exhibitions, had suffered 433 bone fractures by end of 1975. In the winter of 1976, he was seriously injured during a televised attempt to jump a tank full of sharks at the Chicago Amphitheater when he retired.
- The hardest bone in the human body is the jaw bone. It is one of the most durable and hard to break bones in the body.
- Although almost always found in bone, multiple myeloma is not primary bone cancer. It is a bone marrow cancer. Common types of bone cancer are osteosarcoma, chondrosarcoma & Ewing’s tumor.
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