Body System Selection Trivia Quiz

Answer: Respiratory

The respiratory system brings oxygen into the body and gets rid of carbon dioxide. After being inhaled through the nose or mouth air travels down the trachea until it reaches the lungs. Here the trachea branches into two bronchi, one for each lung. These continue to branch out like a tree into smaller and smaller bronchioles and at the end of these is the alveoli.

The alveoli are very small air sacs and it is here that the gaseous exchange takes place, the human body has about 600 million of them. When you inhale the alveoli transfers oxygen into the blood vessels and during exhalation it takes the carbon dioxide out of the blood stream and we breathe it out.

Answer: Skeletal

The skeletal system consists of bones, cartilage, joints and ligaments - tendons also form a part but these belong to the muscular system as well.

Bones make up the framework for our bodies and protect our internal organs; the skull covers the brain, the spine encloses the spinal cord and our ribcage protects our lungs, heart and liver.

Joints enable us to move these bones and they are connected to each other by ligaments (tendons connect bones to muscles.) Bones also play a vital part in producing red and white blood cells within their marrow.

At birth there are more than 300 parts in this system but after merging and cartilage growth the adult skeleton is left with 206 bones.

Answer: Endocrine

Endocrine glands pertain to ductless glands that secrete hormones directly into your blood or lymph system and are then circulated around the body where they may affect a specific organ or have a general effect on the entire body.

The thyroid is a butterfly shaped gland at the front of your neck below the larynx. It converts iodine to produce the hormones thyroxine (T4) and triiodothyronine (T3). These hormones regulate all of the activity in every cell of the body including body temperature, energy levels, metabolic rate and all growth and development.

Other endocrine glands include the pituitary, parathyroid, adrenal, gonads and the islets of langerhans in the pancreas (the rest of the pancreas is an exocrine gland which secretes directly to the skin or mouth).

Answer: Cardiovascular

The cardiovascular system contains the heart and the blood vessels. Its function is to carry oxygen, nutrients and water to all the cells in the body and to remove their waste products.

The heart is the centre of the system. It is about the size of a fist and is situated in the centre of the chest, slightly to the left. It is made of muscle and is basically a pump that receives blood from the body into its right side and sends it to the lungs and then it receives blood back from the lungs into the left side and pumps it back around the body via the blood vessels.

There are five main types of blood vessels in the body. The arteries receive blood from the heart, these branch into smaller vessels names arterioles which in turn lead to the capillaries where the gaseous exchanges take place. Blood then goes out via the smaller venous vessels called venules which then transfer the blood to the veins which returns it to the heart.

Answer: Nervous

The nervous system controls every movement in the body - both voluntary and involuntary. It consists of the brain, spinal column and nerves. Nerves receive information and relay it to the brain which interprets the data and sends a message back down the spinal cord to the nerves to tell it what response it requires.

The cells in the nervous system are called neurones and there are billions of them within the body - the brain alone has 100 billion. Humans are born with all of these but they don't all connect until we begin to learn things and our body then creates a neural pathway which enables us to perform certain actions without thinking about them anymore.

Ganglia are clusters of neurons. They provide intermediary relay points. Large groups of ganglia joined together are known as a plexus.

Answer: Muscular

The muscular system is comprised of at least 700 muscles throughout the body. They are the only tissue in the body that can contract and therefore move other body parts. Muscles are connected to the skeletal system with tendons.

There are three types of muscles - smooth, cardiac and voluntary. Smooth muscles are involuntary muscles that work without conscious thought; examples include the digestive system and bladder. Cardiac muscles control the heart and are also involuntary. The voluntary muscles are all those under our conscious control.

Muscles are also needed to hold us still and they work with the skeletal system to give us posture. They also provide our natural body heat - contracting muscle fibres create heat as a waste product, the more they contract the hotter we get.

The hamstrings are three posterior thigh muscles (semimembranosus, semitendinosus and biceps femoris) which control movement of the hip and knee joint.

Answer: Gastrointestinal

The gastrointestinal or digestive system is responsible for breaking down our food and drinks into forms that our body can absorb and use.

It begins with the mouth where food is chewed and mixed with saliva to become a softer consistency, which is then swallowed into the oesophagus. The oesophagus is a muscular tube which moves the food from the mouth to the stomach.

The stomach then stores the food and secretes gastric acids to break it down into a liquid consistency. It then moves this into the small intestine - a 6.7 metre tube that joins the stomach to the large intestines. The small intestine uses digestive juices from the pancreas to absorb proteins and bile from the liver to absorb fats. The bile is stored in the gallbladder until the body needs it.

The liquid then moves into the large intestine - a much wider tube but only 1.5 metres long. Most of what is now left is waste product that the body doesn't need. The large intestine reabsorbs all the water which leaves a solid mass to be excreted.

Answer: Lymphatic

The lymphatic system consists of lymphatic vessels which carry lymph, a clear colourless fluid, around the body to lymph nodes where it is filtered. Our tonsils and adenoids are examples of these nodes and we often incorrectly call others in the armpits, neck and groin our 'glands'. There are hundreds of these nodes in our body situated from our head to our knees and they act like filters against germ cells.

Lymph fluid also contains leukocytes (white blood cells) which are responsible for the body's immune system and the nodes create lymphocytes which produce antibodies against infections - this is why your 'glands' are sore and enlarged when you have an infection, the nodes are working hard to produce what you need to fight it.

The spleen is the largest part of the lymphatic system and it functions like a huge lymph node in the abdomen. The thymus is located in the chest just above the heart and it stores immature lymphocytes and activates T cells which destroy infected or cancerous cells.

Answer: Integumentary

The integumentary system is a system consisting of the skin, hair, nails and exocrine glands. It is the largest organ in the human body weighing up to 12 percent of body weight and covering up to 2 square metres in area.

The outer layer is the epidermis which is the body's first barrier to the outside environment. Beneath this is the dermis which includes vessels, follicles, nerve endings, connective tissue and glands excreting sweat, cerumen and sebum. The deepest layer is the hypodermis which is adipose (fat) tissue.

The system is responsible for providing a physical barrier to harmful germs, chemicals or disease. It also excretes wastes, regulates body temperature and has receptors for pain, pressure, temperature and sensation. Vitamin D absorption also happens through the skin.

Answer: Renal

The renal system is responsible for excreting waste and extra water from the body. The system begins with the kidneys, two bean shaped organs at the back beneath the lower rib cage. The normal healthy body filters about 200 litres a day through the kidney and excretes about 2 litres of urine. Each kidney is made up of about one million nephrons which are their working units.

Blood enters the kidney via the renal artery and is then passed through the nephrons, these let fluid and waste products through but not red blood cells or proteins. They then process how much fluid and minerals your body has/needs and either sends it back to the body or excretes it. They also make hormones to help regulate blood pressure and red blood cells which are also then released into the blood stream via the renal vein.

The urine leaves the kidneys via the ureters which transport it to the bladder where it is stored until it fills enough to signal the brain that it needs to be emptied. We then decided to urinate and the fluid passes through the urethra and out of the body.