An Overview of the Skeletal System The Science in our Lives

Hello, this is Kaitlyn Heckman and I will be talking about the Skeletal system. The skeletal system is a very complex system in our bodies. It contains 206 bones in total. But before you can even begin to comprehend the specific bones you have to understand the skeletal system as a whole. One of the main things the systems of our bodies work to do is maintain homeostasis so the question is: How does the skeletal system help our bodies maintain homeostasis? One of the main parts of the skeletal system that helps us maintain homeostasis is our osteoblasts, osteocytes, and osteoclasts. These cells help us maintain mineral homeostasis when they continuously build up bone and break down bone to regulate our body's mineral composition such as our levels of calcium. The function of the skeletal system is unique in many ways in how it provides our bodies with the ability to stand, move and gives us protection. But what would happen to us if our bodies stop functioning properly? The body would not stand due to how the skeletal system provides the main structure for your body's movement and allows it to be able to stand and support your weight. The body also wouldn’t be able to move due to the huge role your skeletal system plays in the movement of your muscles. In order to really understand the function of our skeletal system, we have to understand its structure of it and how that relates to its function. The skeletal system is made of bones, cartilage, ligaments, tendons. This provides a framework for the body, allowing our muscles to be able to attach to a stable frame to allow them to contract along our body to move. The makeup of our skeletal system also gives the protection of our organs in how the rib cage is located in a way that it covers most of our lungs, the hard makeup of the bones makes it a good shell-like protector of our organs. Another important thing we must understand about the skeletal system is how it interacts with other systems. For example, the skeletal system interacts with the muscular system in how the muscles keep our bones in place and the muscular system combined with the skeletal system allows for our body's movement by contracting and this contraction pulls the bones to make us move. Another example would be how The skeletal system interacts with the nervous system how: the nervous system is responsible for sending messages to the body to tell our bones when to move this helps our muscles contract and pull the bones so we move. This just goes to show just how interconnected and complex our body systems are. Thank you! 

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