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Spinal Column
 » The spinal cord protects the nervous system
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  • Your spinal cord is made of bundles of neurons that carry impulses from all parts of the body to the brain and from the brain to all parts of your body.
  • The spinal cord is about as big around as an adult thumb and 43 cm long.
  • The joints between vertebrae are called gliding joints, where one part of a bone slides over another bone.
 spinal column and vertebrae picture

spine picture

 

 

Did You Know That?

Signals in the nerves are different from the normal electrical current in your house.

For example, a typical response time for a neuron in the body is a millisecond (.001 seconds). This is over a thousand times slower than the response time in your personal computer! (Sharks Have No Bones)