Bone has been described as “an engineering masterpiece of tensile, compressive
and elastic strength.” Why?
Consider: The human skeleton consists of
approximately 206 bones and 68 joints. The longest bone is the femur, or
thighbone; the smallest is the stapes, a bone inside your ear. As skilled
gymnasts clearly demonstrate, bones, muscles, cartilage, and joints can give a
healthy body an astonishing degree of flexibility and range of movement. “The
thumb alone would convince anyone that the architect of our body (whoever that
may be to each one of us) had to be a genius!” says the National Space
Biomedical Research Institute.
Bones can also take an incredible pounding. “[They]
are constructed in exactly the same way that reinforced concrete is
constructed,” states the institute. “The steel of reinforced concrete provides
the tensile strength, while the cement, sand, and rock provide the
compressional strength. However, the compressional strength of bone is greater
than that of even the best reinforced concrete.” “We only wish we could mimic
it,” said Robert O. Ritchie, a professor of materials science at the
University of California, Berkeley, U.S.A.
Unlike concrete, bone is an essential part of
countless living organisms. And it is dynamic. It is able to repair itself,
respond to hormones that affect its growth and development, and even play a key
role in the manufacture of blood cells. Also, like muscle, it slowly grows
stronger as the load on it increases. Hence, athletes have heavier bones than
do so-called couch potatoes.
What do you think? Is bone a product of
chance? Or was it designed?
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