2/20/12

I have no idea what this "weed" is, but it was growing in our yard the other week.  It kind of looks like a dandelion, but not really.  It could be a variety type.  Either way, I really loved it and so I photographed it.  Weeds can be beautiful, too, in my opinion.

 

I have been teaching about our body systems in Science since January.  I love, love, love this time of year helping the kids understand how their bodies work.  Of course, it can be quite comical learning as well.  You just never know what kids are going to say... or do.

Since I am now moving on to our next unit in Science, I thought I would share a few tidbits I keep learning each year in the "body" world.  These facts continue to amaze me year after year.  It goes to show how complex our bodies are and how awesome our CREATOR is!  I just don't understand anyone who thinks we came about just by "chance."

Hope you learn much from these insights I am about to share!  I got them from my Human Body books I use in class.  They are in no specific order. :)

You have six small muscles to move your eyeball in every direction.

Your eyeballs move about 100,000 times a day - mostly while you are asleep.

One tiny drop of blood the size of a pinhead contains about 5 million red blood cells, 9,000 white cells, and about 250,000 fragments of cells called platelets.

Your heart beats more than two billion times during the average life span of a person and pumps about 360 quarts of blood every hour - enough to fill a car's gas tank every seven minutes!

Altogether your blood vessels are about 60,000 miles long - more than twice the distance around the world!

The skin is the largest organ.  Laid flat, it would cover over 20 square feet.

When you were a baby you had 300 bones.  As you grew, the smaller bones fused together.  When you reach adulthood you will only have 206 bones.

Every minute, on average, your heart beats 72 times and you blink 12 times.

You use 200 muscles every time you take a single step!

You breathe about 20,000 times a day.

An American man called Charles Osborne had the longest attack of hiccups on record - they lasted for 68 years.  During this time, he hiccuped about 430 million times!

Do you know why people yawn?  Some scientists think that you yawn when you have too much carbon dioxide in your body because you have been taking slow, shallow breaths.  When you yawn, your lungs replace this carbon dioxide with oxygen.  A yawn is really one long breath.

Over two million red blood cells are made every second - while the same number die.

By the time you are 70 you will have some interesting facts:

• 23 years sleeping
• nearly 4.5 years eating
• a year on the toilet
• over 2 years blinking
• over a year washing
• 70 days brushing your teeth
• 9 days burping and passing gas

Your sense of smell is 10,000 times stronger than your sense of taste.

Your eyes are squishy balls full of clear jelly.  You blink to spread tears over your eyeballs to keep them clean.  Each blink takes about 0.3 seconds, so that is over half an hour a day spent blinking!

Your stomach churns and turns your food into a creamy liquid called chyme (kime).

Your stomach also works as a storage bag - holding up to 2 pints and releasing chyme a bit at a time.  Without this, we would have to eat every 20 minutes!

Borborygmus (BOR-bu-RIG-mus) is the name of the rumbling sound your stomach makes when you are hungry.

Now that you know all of these facts, let's not forget the vital truth from God's Word: 

 Psalm 139:14 - I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: