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Unit 19: Biology Part 2 Page 89 of 137

Experiment: Test bone design

In this experiment you’ll test how strong hollow bones are compared with
solid bones.

Materials:

 Plain paper
 Paper plates

 Normal-sized books

Build your bones

1. Roll three pieces of paper into cylinders; so that they’re hollow in the
middle.
2. Place them on their ends.

3. Place the paper plates on top of them.
4. Stack books on top of the plate. See how many books it takes until the
plate collapses.
5. Roll three more pieces of paper tightly into rolls—so that they are not
hollow.
6. Place them on their ends.
7. Place a paper plate on top of them.
8. Stack books on top of the plate. See how many books it takes until the
plate collapses.

What happened? The hollow paper “bones” supported more weight. This is
one of the reasons our bones are hollow! Additionally, since our bones are
hollow, they take less energy to move.

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