Body Cavities

Question 1

What is a cavity?

Answer 1

A fluid-filled space inside the body that holds and protects internal organs.

Question 2

What are the two main body cavities in the human body?

Answer 2

The ventral and dorsal cavity.

Question 3

What does the cranial cavity house?

Answer 3

The cranial cavity is part of the dorsal body cavity and encases the brain.

Question 4

What does the vertebral cavity house?

Answer 4

The vertebral cavity is part of the dorsal body cavity and houses the spinal cord.

Question 5

The cranial and vertebral cavity protect which body system?

Answer 5

The nervous system.

Question 6

True or false: The ventral and dorsal body cavities are further subdivided?

Answer 6

True

Question 7

Where is the ventral cavity located?

Answer 7

Anterior or front of the trunk.

Question 8

Which organs does the ventral cavity house?

Answer 8

The internal cavities (collectively called viscera) such as the lungs, heart, stomach, intestines, and reproductive organs.

Question 9

What are the two subdivisions of the ventral body cavity that is separated by the diaphragm?

Answer 9

1) Thoracic cavity
2) Abdominopelvic cavity

Question 10

What is pleura? (ploo-rah)

Answer 10

Two thin layers of tissue that protects and cushions your lungs.

The inner layer (visceral pleura) wraps around the lungs and is stuck so tightly to the lungs that it cannot be peeled off.

The outer layer (parietal pleura) lines the inside of the chest wall.

The very thin space between the layers is called the pleural space. A liquid, called pleural fluid, is in the pleural space. The fluid lubricates the pleural space so that the two layers of pleural tissue can slide against each other.

Question 11

There are 2 pleural cavities within the thoracic cavity that surrounds each lung, what are they?

Answer 11

Mediastinum
(mee-dee-uh-STY-num) and pericardial cavity.

Question 12

What organs does the thoracic cavity (chest cavity) contain?

Answer 12

The heart, lungs, oesophagus, trachea, and thymus.

Question 13

The mediastinum contains which cavity?

Answer 13

Pericardial cavity.

Question 14

What is in the mediastinum?

Answer 14

Mediastinum is a space in your chest that surrounds thoracic organs such as your heart, lungs, oesophagus, trachea, and thymus.

It also has blood vessels.

Question 15

What are the three main components that make up the thoracic (chest) cavity?

Answer 15

1) Mediastinum
2) Left pleural cavity
3) Right pleural cavity

Question 16

Where is the pericardial cavity?

Answer 16

Within the mediastinum.

Question 17

What does the pericardial cavity enclose?

Answer 17

The heart.

Question 18

The abdominopelvic (abdominal & pelvic) cavities are located in which body cavity?

• Ventral body cavity
• Dorsal body cavity

Answer 18

Ventral body cavity.

Question 19

What is a mnemonic to remember where the ventral and dorsal body cavities are?

Answer 19

Mnemonic for dorsal body cavity: “Dorsal for Dorsal fin” (like a shark’s dorsal fin on its back) to remember it’s on the back side.

Mnemonic for ventral body cavity: Think of the letter ‘V’ pointing downwards on the front of your body, starting from your chest and pointing towards your abdomen.

Question 20

What organs are in the abdominal cavity?

Answer 20

Digestive organs like the stomach, intestines, spleen, and liver.

Question 21

What organs are in the pelvic cavity?

Answer 21

Urinary bladder (part of urinary system), reproductive organs, and rectum (part of digestive system).

Question 22

Why are the organs in the abdominal cavity vulnerable to trauma?

Answer 22

The pelvic bones provide limited protection to the pelvic cavity but the walls of abdominal cavity are formed by muscle making it vulnerable.