Lab 5
Overview of the Skeleton:
Classification and Structure of Bones and Cartilages
The Axial Skeleton
Exercise 9
Exercise 10
Overview of the Skeleton
Locate the important cartilages in the human skeleton (Figure 9.2)
Read Classification of Bones on page 114 and then test yourself on the box of numbered
bones at the front of the class. Answers are provided on a card in the box. No peeking
until you've made your choices!
Activity 1: Examining a Long Bone
Activity 2: Examining the Effects of Heat and Hydrochloric Acid on Bones
Activity 3: Examining the Microscopic Structure of Compact Bone
The Axial Skeleton
Activity 1: Identifying the Bones of the Skull
You are responsible for all the bones and bone parts listed on the review sheet.
a. Obtain a skull and some blunt probes. If it is a real bone skull, treat it with
extreme care and put it on bubble wrap on the lab bench.
b. Some structures have been destroyed by use over time on the real skulls and you
may have to look at the plastic skulls and the Beauchene skull (photo, p. 129) for
help. The lab manual and the atlas that is packaged with your book are both good
resources.
c. Return the skull to the correct box when you are finished.
Activity 3: Examining Spinal Curvatures
Activity 4: Examining Vertebral Structure
Name____________________________
Lab Section ________________
Turn in at the next class.
1. Label on figure: matrix, central canal, lacuna, osteon.
the margins.
PRINT the labels neatly in
2. Trace the flow of nutrients from blood in blood vessels in the periosteum to an
osteocyte in a lacuna using the following terms: canaliculus, capillary, central
canal, lacuna, nutrient artery, perforating canal. This is an ordering question.
Imagine yourself in a boat in a nutrient artery, trying to get to a lacuna.
___________________  ___________________  ___________________
___________________  ___________________  ___________________
3. Describe the difference in appearance between the bone soaked in acid and the baked
bone.
Draw and label figures to illustrate a normal spinal curvature, kyphosis, lordosis and
scoliosis. Be sure to indicate anterior and posterior or dorsal and ventral where relevant.