THE • • FAN lSTIC PROJECTS Illuminate How the Body Works Kathleen M. Reilly Illustrated by Shawn Braley Nomad Press A division of Nomad Communications 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Copyright 2008 by Nomad Press © All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review. The trademark "Nomad Press" and the Nomad Press logo are trademarks of Nomad Communications, Inc. Printed in the United States. ISBN: 978-1-9346702-4-8 (Perfect Bound) ISBN: 978-1-9346702-5-5 (Case Bound) Illustrations by Shawn Braley; page 90: Florida Center for Instructional Technology (FCIT) at University of South Florida Questions regarding the ordering of this book should be addressed to Independent Publishers Group 814 N. Franklin St. Chicago, IL 60610 www.ipgbook.com Nomad Press 2456 Christian St. White River Junction, VI 05001 ================:11 g r e e n p r e s s INITIATIVE Nomad Press is committed to preserving ancient forests and natural resources. We elected to print The Human Body on 4,315 lb. of Rolland Enviro 100 Print instead of virgin fIbres paper. This reduces an ecological footprint of: Tree(s): 37 Solid waste: 1,057kg Water: 100,004L Suspended particles in the water: 6.7kg Air emissions: 2,321kg Natural gas: 151m3 It's the equivalent of: Tree(s): 0.8 American football fleld(s) Water: a shower of 4.6 day(s) Air emissions: emissions of 0.5 car(s) per year Nomad Press made this paper choice because our printer, Transcontinental, is a member of Green Press Initiative, a nonprofIt program dedicated to supporting authors, publishers, and suppliers in their efforts to reduce their use of fIber obtained from endangered forests. For more information, visit www.greenpressinitiative.org . . ~ ~ BIO GAS ~l 0..+ FSC '9+ ~A... EN E I G Y -. VIB.Olt~ Other titles from Nomad Press . ., GREAT CIVIL WAR R JE T You Can Build Yourself -- ... - .. ,... . ... Great Colonia Americ Projects --- InTR[][]U[TI[]n [HAPTER 6 1 Cells 59 [HAPTER 1 [HAPTER 7- Circulatory System 3 Skin 64 [HAPTER 2 [HAPTER B Respiratory System 1 7 Brain 74 [HAPTER 3 [HAPTER 9 Digestive System 25 Senses 83 [HAPTER Lf [HAPTER1[] Muscles 37 Reproduction 98 [HAPTER 5 [HAPTER 11 Bones 46 Diseases 8: Immunity 106 0 0 e- G1[1SSRRY RES[]UR[ES In[]EH • 0 Q • o~~ o .c3~ hen you look in the mirror, you Q. o see the same "you" that's always looking back. It's easy to go through your day sleeping, eating, walking, talking, doing homework-all without even thinking about it too much. But inside the skin you're in, you've got an amazing set of systems C\ that are working together to 0 ~ create the life you live. c.-.,J Did you know you've got a river inside of you? You do, sort of-your bloodstream. Just like a real river carries boats full of cargo up and down the waterways to their destinations, so does your blood stream, shuttling oxygen and waste products all over your body. And you've got a furnace system, too your body can regulate its own temperature, cooling you down or warming you up so you stay the perfect "'7 , temperature to ke ep a1 1 your systems on «g o. ve IOU also got levers (bones and joints), a highly developed computer system (yourbrain),andloadsofchemical reactions and electrical charges. All tucked into your skin in a neat order! EVER THinK AB[]UT H[]W IT ALL W[]RKS AnD WHAT W[]ULD HAPPEn IF IT DIDn·T? Early doctors and scientists had to make some guesses about how things worked inside of us. They thought that evil spirits made you sick, while today's doctors know when you're sick, one of your body's systems is just out of whack and they can correct it. Ancient doctors meant well-they just didn't have the knowledge that modern doctors do. But they laid the groundwork for today's doctors and scientists to understand the human body. As time passed, doctors and scientists began to realize there were things as small as germs and cells-and that our bodies were made up of billions of cells. Even today, it's amazing to think that we're walking, talking, and thinking, all because of the way trillions of cells are arranged together to create the human body. Each one of those cells is doing their job, forming your skin or creating new blood cells. Amazing! This book will take you inside your body to get an idea about how it really works. You'll be able to create models that imitate your body's functions, and test some of those functions, too. You can take a peek inside a real heart to understand how yours is shaped and how the chambers work together to pump your blood. You can test your muscle memory and even extract DNA. When you're finished with the book, you'll probably have a completely different reaction the next Some parts of your body you can control, time you look in the mirror. That same like your movement or your speech. "you" that looked so familiar before will But other parts function all by themselves, now look like an amazing masterpiece without you having to think about them at all, like when you're pumping blood or a living, breathing, thinking, feeling digesting dinner. Your body's even working machine that is an example of the when you're sleeping-your lungs keep amazing human body. sucking in air and releasing waste, your heart is beating, and your brain is even giving you something to dream about during the night! • c Q • (·). o"~L .I_ o ould you believe there's a river .o~ Q. of life running through o your body? It's your blood. Without it, your cells couldn't function at all. The path your blood takes as it moves through your body is called the circulatory system. And at the center of the circulatory system, pumping steadily, is your heart. In cartoons, the heart is usually shaped like a box of chocolates on Valentine's Day. But it's really shaped more like a fist-and it's about the size of a fist, too. Your heart's job is to push blood through the circulatory system, transporting blood everywhere from the top of your scalp all the way down to your little pinkie toe. The heart is the superstar of the circulatory system, but your blood is pretty amazing too. Blood makes up about seven percent of your body weight! It carries oxygen, sugar and other nutrients,honnones, vitamins, and antibodies to all parts of your body. At the same time, it helps get rid of waste products like carbon dioxide. Blood also helps regulate your body temperature and keeps your cuts from bleeding too much. Blood travels through a maze of tubes called veins, arteries, and capillaries. They all work together so your blood can do its job which is to keep you healthy and strong! honnones: chemicals that travel PLAsmA through the bloodstream to signal other cells to do their job in the body. Just a little over half of your blood is made antibodies: proteins that help up of plasma. Your plasma is about 92 the immune system fight infections percent water. The rest of it is made up of or bacteria. carbon dioxide: the gas that's proteins, dissolved salts, nutrients, and produced as a waste product by minerals. These things float around in the you r body. plasma as it transports them where they clot: the clump of blood, proteins, need to go. Without plasma, your blood cells and cells that's formed over a cut wouldn't be able to move through your body. to help stop the blood flow. hemoglobin: the protein that carries oxygen in your bloodstream.