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Amazing facts about the human body
The human body is our home in the universe and it is absolutely amazing! The evolutionary marvel that is the human body is made up of cells that congregate to form tissues that together form organs.
1. 35 trillion cells work together to make you!
An average adult body is made up of nearly 35 trillion cells (that’s: 35,000,000,000,000 ). Although, this number does depend on a person’s size, on average it holds between 30 to 40 trillion cells.
2. The human body is mostly water
We’ve all heard this one about a billion times, but the extent of which this is true is baffling. On average, an adult is made up of 60% to 70% water. Infants (<1) on the hand are typically higher around 75% to 78%. If you look at the image below you’ll see a breakdown of organs and their water percentage.
Below are recent water consumption recommendations from the National Academy of Sciences and the Mayo Clinic:
- Women: 2.7 liters (91 ounces) of water daily
- Men: 3.7 liters (125 ounces) of water daily
- Keep in mind this is including all food and beverages
3. Your Femurs are stronger than concrete!
The longest bone in the human body is the Femur which runs from your hip to your knees. The Femur is 4 times stronger than concrete (They should make roads out of bones!…. yeah that joke doesn’t really work).
One cubic inch of bone can bear a load of about 19,000 pounds (8,618 kg). This is roughly 5 pick up trucks!
So then why do you get fractures? Fractures occur due to the amount of force placed on bones from speed in addition to the weight of an impact.
4. Your heat pumps about 2,000 gallons of blood each day
Time to say thank you to your heart! In comparison, if you had a circular pool with a diameter of 10 feet and a depth of 3 feet: that pool would contain about 1,700 gallons.
5. The human body loses 94 bones from birth to adulthood
When you’re born your skeletal system is made up of around 300 bones and as we become adults, this number is reduced to 206.
The primary reason for this is cartilage. Cartilage is rubber-like padding that covers the ends of bones and protects them from impact. Over time this cartilage ossifies (turns into bone). A good example is a soft spot on babies’ heads. At birth, a baby’s skull is made up of 8 separate bones and this reduces to 4 as they began to fuse together.
6. The nervous system is powered by 46 miles (74 km) of nerves!
Nerve impulses back and forth from your brain can travel as fast as 270 miles (434 km) per hour! You have to be fast when you need to cover 46 miles.
7. Your heart beats 35 million times a day. That’s 2.5 billion times in a lifetime!
8. Red blood cells only last 120 days
The lifespan of a red blood cell is quite short. Only lasting about 4 months, these essential cells bring oxygen to the other 35 trillion cells that make us up.
In their lifetime, red blood cells will make around 250,000 trips around the body before dying.
9. The human body contains nearly 6 liters of blood
Think three 2-liter soda bottles. That’s how much blood is circulating around the human body at any given time.
Blood travels around your body 3 times a minute. That’s almost 12,000 miles (19,312 km) a day! Just for reference, the width of Russia is 5,590 miles and that’s more than two cross Russia trips!
