The Human Body

A Science A–Z Life Series

Word Count: 1,581

The Human
Body

Written by Kira Freed

www.sciencea-z.com
Visit www.sciencea-z.com
 Key elements Used in This Book
The Big Idea: Humans have a common bond with all other life on Earth.

The Human
All living things are made up of key parts that help them meet their
needs. These parts must work together to keep an organism healthy.
An understanding of how our bodies work can raise our awareness
of our own health, leading us toward safe and healthy practices.
In this way, we can protect our most important asset—our body.

Body Key words: arteries, bladder, blood, bloodstream, body, bone, bone marrow,
brain, brain stem, carbon dioxide, cardiac muscle, cells, cerebellum, cerebrum,
circulatory system, diaphragm, digestive system, esophagus, excretory system,
exhale, healthy, heart, human, inhale, joint, kidneys, large intestine, liver, lungs,
muscles, muscular system, nerves, nervous system, organs, oxygen, pancreas,
pelvis, pulse, respiratory system, ribs, saliva, skeletal muscles, skeletal system,
skull, small intestine, smooth muscle, spine, stomach, sweat, system, tissue,
trachea, veins

Key comprehension skills: Classify information

Other suitable comprehension skills: Compare and contrast; cause and effect;
main idea and details; identify facts; elements of a genre; interpret graphs,
charts, and diagrams

Key reading strategy: Summarize

Other suitable reading strategies: Ask and answer questions; connect to prior
knowledge; visualize; using a table of contents and headings; using a glossary
and bold terms

Photo Credits: Front cover, page 20 (left): © iStockphoto.com/Mandy Godbehear; title page:
© iStockphoto.com/Elena Elisseeva; page 4: © iStockphoto.com/David Stoddard; page 5 (top left):
© iStockphoto.com/Michael DeLeon; page 5 (top right): © iStockphoto.com Jacek Chabraszewski;
page 5 (bottom left): © iStockphoto.com/Jaren Wicklund; page 7: © Dorling Kindersley/Getty Images;
page 9: © iStockphoto.com/Christian Nasca; pages 10, 17 (fruit): © Jupiterimages Corporation;
page 11 (bottom): © iStockphoto.com/David Joyner; page 13: © iStockphoto.com/Sebastian Kaulitzki;
page 15 (top): © iStockphoto.com/Bogdan Pop; page 15 (bottom left): © iStockphoto.com/
Russell Shively; page 15 (bottom right): © iStockphoto.com/Matthew Cole; page 17 (vegetables):
© Hemera Technologies/Jupiterimages Corporation; page 17 (steak): © iStockphoto.com/Paul Johnson;
page 19: © iStockphoto.com Frances Twitty; page 20 (center): © Cathy Yeulet/123RF; page 20
(right): © iStockphoto.com/Zeljko Santrac

Illustration Credits: Back cover, pages 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10,

11, 12, 14, 16, 17, 18, 19: Cende Hill/© Learning A–Z

Written by Kira Freed

The Human Body

© Learning A–Z
Written by Kira Freed
www.sciencea-z.com
All rights reserved.

www.sciencea-z.com
 Table of Contents Introduction

Your body is like a busy city. A city has

Introduction......................................................... 4
homes, stores, streets, a power station,
waste management, and
The Skeletal System............................................ 6
much more. Like a city,
your body has different
The Muscular System......................................... 8
systems that work together
to keep you alive. All the
The Nervous System......................................... 10
systems are working all
the time, and they all
The Respiratory System................................... 12
need to remain healthy
to do their jobs.
The Circulatory System.................................... 14

The Digestive System....................................... 16

The Excretory System....................................... 18

Conclusion......................................................... 20
Check your knowledge before reading this book.
Glossary.............................................................. 21 What do you know about each of the systems in
your body?
• skeletal system • digestive system
Index................................................................... 22
• muscular system • excretory system
• nervous system • reproductive system
• respiratory system • endocrine system
• circulatory system • immune system

3 4
 The Skeletal System

The bones of your skeletal system support the

rest of your body. Like the steel beams inside
the walls of buildings, they provide support
for all the other systems. Without bones, your
body would collapse
The Skeletal System
into a mushy blob!
Bones also protect skull
Your body knows how
to do an amazing organs and play an
number of jobs.
important role in your ribs
spine

body’s movement.

Your spine, the main

support, is a long column
Every minute of your life, your heart is
of twenty-six bones.
pumping blood throughout your body.
Your skull, a bony case
Messages are traveling to and from your brain,
at the top of the column,
and your lungs are carrying life-giving oxygen
protects your brain from
to cells. Your body is killing harmful germs,
injury. Some of the bones
controlling your temperature, and removing
of your spine have ribs pelvis
waste products. It is also performing thousands
attached to them. Your ribs
more tasks—even while you are sleeping!
wrap around your chest,
In this book, you will learn about seven of protecting your heart
these important body systems. As you read, and lungs.
think about all the tasks each body system is
performing to keep you alive and healthy.
5 6
 incus
malleus
Can you guess where the
smallest bones in your body
are? They’re in your middle
ears! Three tiny bones carry
vibrations from your eardrums
to your inner ears.
The Muscular System
The muscular system, along with the skeletal
system, allows your body to move. Unlike
other body tissues, your muscles can contract
stapes
(become shorter and tighter) or relax (become
longer and looser). Muscles use the energy
from the food you eat to do this work.

Your pelvis helps to protect the organs of The muscles that bend
The Muscular System
your abdomen. Muscles attached to bones your joints never push—
in your arms and legs help you move. they only pull, which
is why they must work
Long, strong bones provide support for your
in pairs. When one
arms and legs. Your hands, wrists, feet, and
contracts, its partner
ankles contain many smaller bones. Each of
relaxes. Then they
the 206 bones in your body has a special job.
switch jobs.
The place where two bones meet is called
Your body has three
a joint. Some joints bend or rotate, allowing
types of muscles—
you to move in many ways.
skeletal, smooth,
Did you realize that your bones are and cardiac. Skeletal
Muscles
alive? Bones are made of living cells.
This is why bones grow. Spongy
material in the center of bones, Your body has more than
called bone marrow, makes 650 muscles! Almost half
your weight is muscles.
new blood cells.
7 8
 The Nervous System
Sit on a chair. Place one
hand on top of your thigh
Your brain is the headquarters of your
and the other hand under your nervous system. It controls everything you
thigh. Straighten and bend your do, from speaking and moving to thinking
leg. Can you tell when one muscle
contracts and the other one relaxes?
and feeling. To do its jobs, your brain uses
a network of nerves to communicate rapidly
with every cell. These nerves are like
Skeletal muscles connect to bones. These
telephone wires that carry messages between
strong muscles help you move and are the
your brain and body parts.
only ones you can control.
The Nervous System Thousands of nerves are
Hollow organs—such as your stomach,
brain bundled together in your
intestines, arteries, and veins—contain
spinal cord, which runs
smooth muscle tissue. These muscles move spinal cord
down your spine. Nerves
substances through your body. When you
branch off from your
swallow, smooth muscle tissue
spinal cord and then
moves food toward your stomach.
nerves branch off to smaller
Smooth muscle tissue also moves
and smaller nerve
blood throughout your body.
Cardiac Muscle fibers to reach every
Cardiac muscle is found only in your part of your body.
heart; in fact, almost your entire heart is
cardiac muscle! This amazing muscle works
around the clock throughout your entire life.
How is your
Smooth and cardiac muscles work on their nervous system
own, without any thought on your part. similar to a post office?

9 10
 Parts of the Brain The Respiratory System
cerebrum Your respiratory system is in charge of your
the largest and most
developed part of your
breathing. When you inhale, or breathe in,
brain, where thinking, you take in oxygen. Your respiratory system
feeling, sight, and
hearing take place transfers the oxygen to your blood. The blood
then carries oxygen to your cells. Cells need
brain stem
cerebellum this oxygen to make energy for your body.
controls many body
controls muscles so they work functions, such
together, helping you to walk as breathing and The Respiratory When you exhale, or
smoothly and with balance pumping blood System
breathe out, you release
water and carbon dioxide
All signals move to and from the brain very nose
mouth into the air. The water
quickly. Your nervous system uses electrical trachea and carbon dioxide are
signals to quickly carry these messages
lungs waste products left over
through your body. bronchi
from making energy in
The brain has three main parts, shown in the your cells.
diaphragm
diagram. Each part has a specific job that helps
After air enters your
you live, think, feel, and take part in activities.
body through your nose
and mouth, it travels
down your trachea, or
Signals in your nervous system
can travel more than 290 windpipe. In your chest,
kilometers (180 mi.) per hour. your trachea divides
That’s more than twice as fast into two branches that
as cars travel on a freeway!
That’s why you notice it almost connect to your lungs.
immediately if you stub your toe.

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 The Circulatory System

All your cells need oxygen Your heart is the center of your circulatory
to stay alive, and they can system. Your heart has a big job to do,
only survive for a few minutes
without it. Cells need oxygen
pumping blood nonstop to all the cells in
to break down the food you your body.
eat and convert it into energy.
Circulation is the process of moving blood
along the path it travels in your body. First,
In your lungs, smaller and smaller branching
the heart pumps blood
tubes end in tiny air sacs surrounded by small The Circulatory
System to your lungs to pick up
blood vessels. Oxygen seeps through the sac
oxygen. Then the heart
walls and enters your bloodstream. Then, red
pumps oxygen-rich blood
blood cells pick up the oxygen and carry it
veins heart to all your cells. Blood
to all the cells of your body. Your blood also
travels away from your
carries unneeded carbon dioxide from your
heart through arteries.
cells to your lungs so it can leave your body
The blood in arteries is
when you exhale.
bright red because it
Your lungs have no muscles, so they can’t take contains oxygen.
in air on their own. The diaphragm, a sheet
After your blood gives
of muscle under your lungs, contracts and
its oxygen to cells, it
relaxes to allow you to breathe. When you
picks up carbon dioxide
inhale, your diaphragm contracts and moves arteries
and other waste products
down to make room for your lungs to expand
from the cells. Then it
with air. When you exhale, your diaphragm
travels back to the heart
relaxes and moves up, which forces air out of
through your veins.
your lungs.
13 14
 The Digestive System
Each red blood cell lives for
Your digestive system breaks down food so
only about four months. It’s a
good thing your body makes new cells all your body’s cells can use it to make energy.
the time. During its short lifetime, a red blood Food enters your body through your mouth.
cell can travel over 482 kilometers (300
As you chew, saliva mixes with the food and
mi.) through your blood vessels!
begins to break it down. When you swallow,
the food travels down the esophagus, a long
Blood in veins is darker in color than the tube, to your stomach. The smooth muscles in
blood in arteries. This is because blood your stomach squeeze the food to break it into
in veins no longer carries oxygen. smaller pieces. Digestive
The Digestive System
If you put your hand over your heart, you chemicals mix with the
can feel your heartbeat. You can feel the same mouth food and turn it into a
rhythm as blood moves through arteries close mushy substance.
esophagus
to your skin. This rhythm is called your pulse. Next, the food travels
stomach
Notice that your pulse changes depending to your small intestine.
on the activities you are doing. pancreas
Chemicals from your
liver and pancreas ooze
small into your small intestine
Here are two intestine large
intestine to break down the food
easy places to
feel your pulse: even more. Tiny finger-
•o  n either side
like structures in the
of your neck walls of the small
under your chin intestine absorb the
• on the inside
of either wrist
nutrients from the food.

15 16

Different types of food
take different amounts
of time to travel through
your digestive system.
Fruits and vegetables
take less than twelve
hours. A steak can
take two or three days
because meat is harder
to digest.
Nutrients enter your bloodstream and travel
to your cells to nourish them. Any food that
was not absorbed moves on to your large
intestine, or colon. There, water from the
remaining food is absorbed into your body,
and unused food continues to move along.
You don’t need it all. So the unused portion
leaves the body through an opening at the
end of the large intestine.
Your small intestine can
be as long as 7 meters
(23 ft.)! It fits in your
body because it is coiled.
17
The Excretory System
Your body makes many waste products as
you breathe air and digest foods and liquids.
The excretory system gets rid of the things
your body does not need.
You have already learned that your lungs
release carbon dioxide and water. Your
kidneys are important excretory organs too.
They work like a water
The Excretory System
treatment plant. Kidneys
filter out waste chemicals
and collect them. This waste
travels from your kidneys
to your bladder before
leaving your body as urine.
liver
kidneys
bladder
You have two kidneys, but
you can live with just one.
People who have had one
kidney removed can live
a long, healthy life. The
kidney that remains grows
bigger and does the work
of two kidneys.
18
Your liver is another large organ that removes Conclusion
what your body does not need. It acts as a filter
for poisons. The liver changes a poisonous gas You’ve just read about the main jobs of some
in your body called ammonia into a harmless of your body systems. Each system has many
liquid that your kidneys filter out of your more jobs as well. All your body systems work
blood. This gas would kill your cells if it were all the time to keep you alive and healthy.
allowed to build up in your body. You can take care of all your body systems
Your skin is part of your excretory system, too. by eating healthy food and getting enough
Tiny glands deep exercise and sleep. When you eat and drink
in your skin the right things, it is easier for your body to
empty out at the use just what it needs and to get rid of the rest.
surface as drops Exercise keeps your muscles strong—including
of sweat. Your your heart. And sleep gives your body parts
sweat glands time to heal.
help your body Take good care of your amazing body, and
get rid of extra it will take good care of you!
water, chemicals,
and heat.

skin
sweat

19 20
 Glossary nerves thin fibers that carry signals between
the brain and other parts of the body
arteries blood vessels that move oxygen-rich
(p. 10)
blood away from the heart toward
the body’s cells (p. 9) skeletal strong muscles that connect to bones
muscles and allow the body to move (p. 9)
bone spongy material that produces blood
marrow cells and is found in the center of small the thin, coiled part of the digestive
bones (p. 7) intestine system in which nutrients are
removed from food and put into the
brain the control center of the nervous
bloodstream (p. 16)
system (p. 5)
smooth muscle that moves substances without
cardiac the type of muscle found in the
muscle a person’s control and is found in
muscle heart (p. 9)
many internal organs (p. 9)
heart the organ that pumps blood
spine a column of bones that provides
throughout the body (p. 5)
the main support for the body;
kidneys a pair of excretory organs that filter the backbone (p. 6)
waste products from blood (p. 18)
stomach the organ where food is mixed and
large the thick, lower end of the digestive partially digested (p. 9)
intestine system in which water is removed
veins blood vessels that carry blood from
from digested food (p. 17)
the body’s cells toward the heart (p. 9)
liver a large excretory organ that filters
blood and helps with digestion (p. 16)
lungs two spongy organs that bring oxygen Index
to the blood and remove carbon bloodstream  13, 17 nutrients  16–17
dioxide from the blood (p. 5)
bones  6–7, 9 oxygen  5, 12–15
muscles body tissues that let the body move carbon dioxide  12–14, 18 pulse  15
by contracting and relaxing (p. 7)
cells  5, 7, 10, 12–17, 19 skin  15, 19
food  8–9, 13, 16–17, 20 sleep  5, 20

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