This example says for each bone below, state whether you think the primary function is support, protection, or acting as a lever. You may choose more than one function if necessary. Alright. Quick note. In this chapter, you do not need to know the specific function of each individual bone.
You will learn that later. But for now, we just want to think about this stuff a little bit generally. So let's go through our options and see what we've got. First up, we have the phalanges. The phalanges are your finger bones.
Well, what do you think? Support, protection, or acting as a lever? Well, your fingers do lots of movement, and when the body moves, it's because muscles are pulling on bones acting as a lever. So for the fingers, I'm definitely going to put an l for lever. Not really doing a lot of support or protection.
Next up, we have the vertebrae or the bones of your back. What do you think? Support, protection, or acting as a lever? Well, definitely some support, right?
That sort of is what keeps your body upright, so I'm going to put an s for support. I'm also going to put a p for protection. Your spinal cord goes down the middle of your vertebrae, and that bony protection is one of the things that protects it. And you probably know if you break your back, that compromises that protection and it can have some serious consequences. Now acting as lever, there are muscle attachments on the vertebrae and they do help you bend and stand up straight.
So there is a little bit of lever action, but I'm not really thinking that that's a primary function, so I'm going to leave it off. Next up, we have the parietal bones. These are the bones on the side of your cranium. So what do you think? Support, protection, or acting as a lever?
Well, not many muscle attachments there, so I'm not going to say acting as a lever. Support, I mean, it does give you the shape of your head, but really what it's doing is protecting the brain inside. So I'm going to put a p for protection. Next up, we have the mandible or your jawbone. What do you think?
Support, protection, or acting as lever? Not really a lot of support going on there, unless you consider supporting the teeth. And for protection, unless you're getting punched in the face a lot, not a lot of protection going on. What it's definitely doing is acting as a lever when you chew your food. Alright.
We have ribs. Ribs, support, protection, or acting as a lever. Well, definitely some support, right? The ribs give you the shape of the thoracic cavity, the shape of your chest.
We'll learn in the respiratory system, your lungs don't work unless you have rigid ribs giving them shape. Also protection. Right? I've stated before, pound on my chest, my heart is just fine because those ribs, the sternum are giving protection. So I'm going to put a p as well.
Now acting as a lever, again, there are some muscle attachments on there. They sort of base some muscles, but not a lot going on there in terms of levers for the ribs. So I'm going to leave that off as a primary function. Our final bone here is going to be the humerus. That's your upper arm bone.
What do you think? Support, protection, or acting as a lever? Alright. Well, really, those bones of the limbs, arms, and legs are definitely just mostly acting as levers. The more movement a bone has, the more it's acting as a lever.
Not a lot of protection, not a lot of support going on there. Alright. With that, we run through these bones. Again, you don't need to know the specifics of every bone, but you do want to be thinking about bone functions in general. And we have more questions to follow.
I'll see you there.
