Bone up on human skeleton trivia, from the tiny stapes to the mighty femur.
These questions explore the body's framework, joints, marrow, movement, growth, and a whole closetful of memorable bone names.
Your Living Framework
Q: How many bones are typically counted in an adult human skeleton?
A: 206.
Q: What are the two main divisions of the human skeleton?
A: The axial and appendicular skeletons.
Q: What does the axial skeleton include?
A: The skull, vertebral column, ribs, and sternum.
Q: What does the appendicular skeleton include?
A: The limbs and the shoulder and pelvic girdles.
Q: How many bones make up the typical adult axial skeleton?
A: 80.
Q: How many bones make up the typical adult appendicular skeleton?
A: 126.
Q: Are bones living organs?
A: Yes.
Q: What organ system includes bones, cartilage, ligaments, and joints?
A: The skeletal system.
Q: What major skeletal function gives the body its structural framework?
A: Support.
Q: What major skeletal function shields organs such as the brain and heart?
A: Protection.
Q: What does the skeleton work with to produce body movement?
A: Muscles.
Q: Which two important minerals are stored in bone?
A: Calcium and phosphorus.
Q: What process of blood cell production takes place in red bone marrow?
A: Hematopoiesis.
Q: Why do babies have more separate bones than adults?
A: Many bones fuse during growth.
Q: What branch of anatomy studies bones?
A: Osteology.
Skull and Face
Q: How many bones are usually counted in the adult skull, excluding the auditory ossicles and hyoid?
A: 22.
Q: How many cranial bones surround the brain?
A: Eight.
Q: How many facial bones form the framework of the face?
A: Fourteen.
Q: What is the movable bone of the lower jaw?
A: The mandible.
Q: What pair of bones forms the upper jaw?
A: The maxillae.
Q: What bone forms the forehead?
A: The frontal bone.
Q: What pair of bones forms much of the roof and sides of the cranium?
A: The parietal bones.
Q: What bone forms much of the back and base of the skull?
A: The occipital bone.
Q: What large opening in the occipital bone allows the spinal cord to pass?
A: The foramen magnum.
Q: What bones form the prominent parts of the cheeks?
A: The zygomatic bones.
Q: What small U-shaped bone in the neck does not directly articulate with another bone?
A: The hyoid.
Q: What are the three tiny bones in each middle ear?
A: The malleus, incus, and stapes.
Q: What is the smallest bone in the human body?
A: The stapes.
Q: What immovable fibrous joints connect most skull bones?
A: Sutures.
Q: What cavities inside several skull bones help lighten the skull and affect voice resonance?
A: The paranasal sinuses.
Spine and Rib Cage
Q: What is another name for the vertebral column?
A: The spine, or backbone.
Q: How many vertebrae are present before the sacral and coccygeal bones finish fusing?
A: Usually 33.
Q: How many cervical vertebrae are in the neck?
A: Seven.
Q: How many thoracic vertebrae are in the upper and middle back?
A: Twelve.
Q: How many lumbar vertebrae are in the lower back?
A: Five.
Q: What is the first cervical vertebra called?
A: The atlas.
Q: What is the second cervical vertebra called?
A: The axis.
Q: What fused triangular bone sits at the base of the spine?
A: The sacrum.
Q: What small terminal bone is commonly called the tailbone?
A: The coccyx.
Q: What pads between most vertebrae absorb shock and permit movement?
A: Intervertebral discs.
Q: How many pairs of ribs do most people have?
A: Twelve pairs.
Q: Which rib pairs attach directly to the sternum through their own costal cartilage?
A: Pairs one through seven.
Q: Which rib pairs are commonly called floating ribs?
A: Pairs eleven and twelve.
Q: What flat bone runs down the front center of the chest?
A: The sternum.
Q: What three parts make up the sternum?
A: The manubrium, body, and xiphoid process.
Shoulders, Arms, and Hands
Q: What two bones form each shoulder girdle?
A: The clavicle and scapula.
Q: What is the common name for the clavicle?
A: The collarbone.
Q: What is the common name for the scapula?
A: The shoulder blade.
Q: What long bone runs from the shoulder to the elbow?
A: The humerus.
Q: What are the two bones of the forearm?
A: The radius and ulna.
Q: Which forearm bone is on the thumb side in anatomical position?
A: The radius.
Q: Which forearm bone forms the point of the elbow?
A: The ulna.
Q: What is the bony point of the elbow called?
A: The olecranon.
Q: How many bones are in one adult hand and wrist?
A: 27.
Q: What are the eight wrist bones called?
A: Carpals.
Q: What are the five bones of the palm called?
A: Metacarpals.
Q: What are the finger bones called?
A: Phalanges.
Q: How many phalanges are in each hand?
A: Fourteen.
Q: How many phalanges does the thumb have?
A: Two.
Q: What wrist bone is most commonly fractured?
A: The scaphoid.
Pelvis, Legs, and Feet
Q: What is the longest bone in the human body?
A: The femur.
Q: What is the common name for the femur?
A: The thighbone.
Q: What bone is commonly called the kneecap?
A: The patella.
Q: What is the largest sesamoid bone in the body?
A: The patella.
Q: What are the two bones of the lower leg?
A: The tibia and fibula.
Q: Which lower-leg bone bears most of the body's weight?
A: The tibia.
Q: What is the common name for the tibia?
A: The shinbone.
Q: Which lower-leg bone is thinner and lies on the outer side?
A: The fibula.
Q: What three bones fuse to form each adult hip bone?
A: The ilium, ischium, and pubis.
Q: What cup-shaped socket receives the head of the femur?
A: The acetabulum.
Q: How many bones are in one adult foot and ankle?
A: 26.
Q: What are the seven ankle and rear-foot bones called?
A: Tarsals.
Q: What are the five long bones of the midfoot called?
A: Metatarsals.
Q: What is the heel bone called?
A: The calcaneus.
Q: What ankle bone receives the body's weight from the tibia?
A: The talus.
Joints Make the Moves
Q: What is the place where two or more bones meet called?
A: A joint, or articulation.
Q: What type of joint has a fluid-filled cavity and permits wide movement?
A: A synovial joint.
Q: What slippery tissue covers the ends of bones in most movable joints?
A: Articular cartilage.
Q: What lubricating liquid fills a synovial joint cavity?
A: Synovial fluid.
Q: What tough bands connect bone to bone?
A: Ligaments.
Q: What cords or sheets connect muscle to bone?
A: Tendons.
Q: What type of joint is the elbow?
A: A hinge joint.
Q: What type of joint allows the shoulder its broad range of motion?
A: A ball-and-socket joint.
Q: What type of synovial joint lets the atlas rotate around the axis?
A: A pivot joint.
Q: What type of joint at the base of the thumb aids opposition?
A: A saddle joint.
Q: What type of joint allows small sliding motions between many wrist bones?
A: A plane, or gliding, joint.
Q: What fibrocartilage pads help cushion and stabilize the knee?
A: The menisci.
Q: What flexible tissue connects the ribs to the sternum?
A: Costal cartilage.
Q: What nearly immovable joint type connects skull bones?
A: A fibrous joint.
Q: What joint joins the left and right pubic bones with a pad of cartilage?
A: The pubic symphysis.
Bone From the Inside Out
Q: What dense outer bone tissue provides strength?
A: Compact bone.
Q: What light, lattice-like bone tissue lies inside many bones?
A: Spongy, or trabecular, bone.
Q: What membrane covers the outer surface of a bone except at joint surfaces?
A: The periosteum.
Q: What membrane lines the internal surfaces of bone?
A: The endosteum.
Q: What is the shaft of a long bone called?
A: The diaphysis.
Q: What are the expanded ends of a long bone called?
A: The epiphyses.
Q: What hollow space runs through the shaft of a long bone?
A: The medullary cavity.
Q: What type of marrow produces blood cells?
A: Red bone marrow.
Q: What type of marrow stores a large amount of fat?
A: Yellow bone marrow.
Q: What mature bone cells maintain bone tissue?
A: Osteocytes.
Q: What bone cells build new bone matrix?
A: Osteoblasts.
Q: What large cells break down bone tissue?
A: Osteoclasts.
Q: What structural protein gives bone flexibility and tensile strength?
A: Collagen.
Q: What calcium-rich mineral gives bone much of its hardness?
A: Hydroxyapatite.
Q: What cylindrical structural unit is found in compact bone?
A: An osteon.
Growing, Healing, and Adapting
Q: What process forms bone tissue?
A: Ossification.
Q: What cartilage zones let long bones lengthen during childhood and adolescence?
A: Growth plates.
Q: What line may remain after a growth plate closes?
A: An epiphyseal line.
Q: What lifelong process replaces old bone with new bone?
A: Bone remodeling.
Q: Which cells remove old bone during remodeling?
A: Osteoclasts.
Q: Which cells lay down new bone during remodeling?
A: Osteoblasts.
Q: What is a break in a bone called?
A: A fracture.
Q: What temporary bridge of repair tissue stabilizes a healing fracture?
A: A callus.
Q: What blood collection forms soon after many fractures?
A: A fracture hematoma.
Q: What principle says bone adapts to the loads placed upon it?
A: Wolff's law.
Q: What vitamin helps the body absorb calcium needed for bone mineralization?
A: Vitamin D.
Q: What hormone made by the parathyroid glands helps regulate blood calcium?
A: Parathyroid hormone.
Q: What hormone made by thyroid C cells can lower blood calcium by reducing bone resorption?
A: Calcitonin.
Q: Around what stage of adulthood does bone mass generally reach its peak?
A: The twenties.
Q: Does bone remodeling continue after a person stops growing taller?
A: Yes.
You Crushed This Bone Quiz
If you got all 120 answers, your skeletal knowledge is standing tall. Flex the rest of your brain with our science trivia.
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