- Roast the bone strongly for 10 minutes. Roasting will burn off the organic component
of bone (mainly the protein collagen) leaving behind the mineral part. - Allow the bone to cool down completely before you touch it.
- Describe the appearance of Bone C stating whether it is soft or hard, flexible or brittle.
Observations:
Note down your observations in your lab notebook.
Conclusions:
What can you conclude about the different organic and inorganic components of bones?
Questions:
- What are the main inorganic components of bone?
- What changes have occurred in Bone A?
- What properties have been removed from the bone with the loss of it inorganic com-
ponents? - Which deficiency disease can have similar effects on bones in children?
- What is the role of Bone B in this experiment?
- What protein makes up the main organic component of bone?
- What changes took place in Bone C during the roasting process?
- What properties have been removed from Bone C with the loss of its organic compo-
nent?
7.4 Musculoskeletal tissues
The tissues which provide structure to the body and enable movement are part of themuscu-
loskeletalsystem. The tissues in the this system include the bones, cartilage, joint, tendons,
ligaments and muscles. In this section we will examine each of these types of tissues, so that
in the next section on locomotion, we can understand how these structures work together to
bring about movement.
- Bone: hard mineralized tissue that determines the structure of the body and provides
attachments for muscles. - Cartilage: flexible connective tissue that is usually found in many areas of the body
including the joints between bones. - Joints: region where bones meet, a variety of joint types allow for a range of move-
ments in a number of different planes. - Ligament: tissue that connects bones to other bones.
- Tendons: fibrous connective tissue that connects muscle to bone and transfers the force
generated by the muscles into skeletal movement. - Muscles: made up of fibres that are capable of contraction and therefore capable of
bringing about movement.
Chapter 7. Support systems in animals 207