Q1.
Perform the actions given in Table 3.4. Record your experiences and compare them with the experiences given in Table 3.4. Study their functions and identify the connective tissues (Fig. 3.12).
Answer
Here is Table 3.4 completed. Each action lets you feel one connective tissue through your own skin.
| Action | Experience | Function | Connective tissue |
|---|---|---|---|
| Touch your elbow gently | A hard and rigid structure | Gives strength, support and protection | Bone |
| Press and fold your ear, or gently press your nose and stop | A soft and flexible structure that retains its shape again | Provides flexibility and cushions the ends of bones for shock absorption | Cartilage |
| Touch your forearm muscles and wiggle your fingers | Movement is felt in the forearm even though the fingers are far away | Connects muscle to bone, and thus brings about movement | Tendon |
| Sit on a chair and move your leg upwards till your knee allows | The joint does not go beyond a limit | Connects bone to bone, provides stability, limits movement and helps prevent dislocation | Ligament |
Reading the results. The difference you feel between the elbow and the ear is a difference in the matrix:
Bone matrix: rigid, containing calcium and phosphorus compounds → hard, strong, protective
Cartilage matrix: soft and jelly-like → flexible, springs back, absorbs shock
Cartilage matrix: soft and jelly-like → flexible, springs back, absorbs shock
Why you feel your forearm move when you wiggle a finger: the muscles that move your fingers are not in your hand at all — they lie in the forearm, and they act on the finger bones through long tendons that run across the wrist. The tendon is tough, rope-like connective tissue: when the forearm muscle contracts, the tendon transmits that force all the way to the finger. Putting the bulky muscle in the forearm keeps the hand slim and precise.
Why your knee stops at a limit: ligaments join bone to bone across the joint. They are strong but only slightly stretchable, so they allow the joint its normal range and then hold — preventing the bones from being pulled out of place (dislocation).
Tip: remember it as tendon = muscle to bone, ligament = links bone to bone.