Question
When you were born, you had 300 bones. However, by the time you are an adult, you’ll only have 206! Where are your bones going?
As you grow, your bones are fusing together, which is how the 300 bones you started with in infancy turn into 206 by adulthood. No matter how many bones we have, we each have a skeleton that gives our body structure and support and protects our internal organs. In this unit, we’ll discover how the skeletal system builds and repairs itself and how it contributes to the homeostasis of the body. We’ll also learn how to identify bones and joints and how the engineering design process can be used to support the skeletal system when things go wrong.
Osteoblasts are the cells that make bone tissue. They form from stem cells, and when osteoblasts mature, they surround themselves with a calcium matrix to become osteocytes, or bone cells. Nearly half of the mass of your skeleton forms when you are a teenager, so it is practically guaranteed that right now inside your body osteoblasts are building your skeleton! While osteoblasts are hard at work building, osteoclasts are doing just the opposite. The role of the osteoclasts is to break down bone tissue, which is critical in growth and repair. You can compare the osteoblasts and osteoclasts to a home remodeling crew. The demolition team (osteoclasts) has just as important a role as the construction crew (osteoblasts) because the old has to be removed to make way for the new. The process of forming bone tissue is called ossification, and it began before you were born, at about six to seven weeks of development. At the ends of long bones are thin bands of cartilage known as the growth plates. As long as these areas are present, bones can grow in length and width.
2. Have you or someone you know experienced a growth spurt? Using your knowledge of long bone anatomy and physiology, what is happening inside your femur during times of growth? Describe the role of osteoblasts, osteoclasts, and osteocytes in your response.
Write 4 simple sentences in your own words in one paragraph.
As you grow, your bones are fusing together, which is how the 300 bones you started with in infancy turn into 206 by adulthood. No matter how many bones we have, we each have a skeleton that gives our body structure and support and protects our internal organs. In this unit, we’ll discover how the skeletal system builds and repairs itself and how it contributes to the homeostasis of the body. We’ll also learn how to identify bones and joints and how the engineering design process can be used to support the skeletal system when things go wrong.
Osteoblasts are the cells that make bone tissue. They form from stem cells, and when osteoblasts mature, they surround themselves with a calcium matrix to become osteocytes, or bone cells. Nearly half of the mass of your skeleton forms when you are a teenager, so it is practically guaranteed that right now inside your body osteoblasts are building your skeleton! While osteoblasts are hard at work building, osteoclasts are doing just the opposite. The role of the osteoclasts is to break down bone tissue, which is critical in growth and repair. You can compare the osteoblasts and osteoclasts to a home remodeling crew. The demolition team (osteoclasts) has just as important a role as the construction crew (osteoblasts) because the old has to be removed to make way for the new. The process of forming bone tissue is called ossification, and it began before you were born, at about six to seven weeks of development. At the ends of long bones are thin bands of cartilage known as the growth plates. As long as these areas are present, bones can grow in length and width.
2. Have you or someone you know experienced a growth spurt? Using your knowledge of long bone anatomy and physiology, what is happening inside your femur during times of growth? Describe the role of osteoblasts, osteoclasts, and osteocytes in your response.
Write 4 simple sentences in your own words in one paragraph.
Answers
GPT-5 mini
During a growth spurt the femur gets longer at the growth plates where cartilage is turned into bone. Osteoblasts make new bone by laying down matrix and calcium, adding to the bone’s length and width. Osteoclasts remove old bone so the bone can be reshaped and remodeled as it grows. Osteocytes are the mature bone cells that live inside the bone and help keep it healthy and strong.