Monday, June 2, 2008

the nervous system

The nervous system is a very complex system in the body. It has many, many parts. The nervous system is divided into two main systems, the central nervous system (CNS) and the peripheral nervous system. The spinal cord and the brain make up the CNS. Its main job is to get the information from the body and send out instructions. The peripheral nervous system is made up of all of the nerves and the wiring. This system sends the messages from the brain to the rest of the body.

what is blood

Blood is thicker than water and has a little bit salty taste. In an adults body there is 10.6 pints of blood circulating around. In their blood there is billions of living blood cells floating in a liquid called plasma. If you took a small sample of this blood and poured it into a test tube and then put it in a machine called a centrifuge, you would be able to see the layers of this blood. This machine spins the blood around so fast that it separates the red blood cells, from the white blood cells, from the platelets. The red blood cells sink to the bottom because they are the heavier, more solid parts, but the plasma remains at the top because it is lighter. The plasma is 95% water and the other 5% is made up of dissolved substances including salts.