Skin

Question 1

Your Largest Organ
What is the largest organ in your body? Your heart? It is the largest muscle in your body, but you do have larger organs. Your brain? The brain inside your skull is pretty big, but it’s not the biggest. How about the liver? It is the heaviest organ. How about your skin? Yes, your skin is an organ, just like your heart, brain, and liver. Since your skin covers your entire body, it is, in fact, your body’s largest organ.
Even though skin comes in many different colors, all skin has a very important job to do. It acts as a covering for our entire body, which protects our organs and keeps out infections. Can you imagine what your body would look like without skin?
It also regulates our body temperature and helps us perceive pain, pressure, and touch.
Layers of the Skin
The human skin is made up of three layers:
• Epidermis - [ep-i-dur-mis] the part of the skin on the outside of your body; it’s the part you can see
• Dermis - [dur-mis] where blood vessels and nerves are at work
• Hypodermis - [hahy-puh-dur-mis] mostly made of fat; where your hair grows from
How Thick Is My Skin?
If you’ve ever had a cut on your skin, you know that it’s not very thick at all. On average, your skin is only about 1.5 millimeters thick. It is thickest on the soles of our feet and thinnest on our eyelids.
Is it Alive?
Here’s something fun to try. Look down at your hands. What do you see? Anything unusual? Even though you can’t see it, your skin is hard at work making new cells. It takes from two weeks to a month to make a new cell. When these cells are ready they will work their way to your epidermis, pushing the old, dead ones to the surface. So when you look at your skin, you’re actually seeing dead cells. In fact, our skin loses about 30,000 to 40,000 dead cells every minute!
Skin-Tastic Facts!
• Frogs don’t drink water; they absorb it
through their skin.
• Polar bear’s skin is black to absorb heat from the sun.
• Besides humans, pigs are the only other animal that can get sunburned skin.
• Ostrich skin makes the strongest leather.
• Some humans and animals have no ‘melanin’ (an enzyme that produces color) in their skin. This makes them completely white.

Answer 1

Your Largest Organ
What is the largest organ in your body? Your heart? It is the largest muscle in your body, but you do have larger organs. Your brain? The brain inside your skull is pretty big, but it’s not the biggest. How about the liver? It is the heaviest organ. How about your skin? Yes, your skin is an organ, just like your heart, brain, and liver. Since your skin covers your entire body, it is, in fact, your body’s largest organ.
Even though skin comes in many different colors, all skin has a very important job to do. It acts as a covering for our entire body, which protects our organs and keeps out infections. Can you imagine what your body would look like without skin?
It also regulates our body temperature and helps us perceive pain, pressure, and touch.
Layers of the Skin
The human skin is made up of three layers:
• Epidermis - [ep-i-dur-mis] the part of the skin on the outside of your body; it’s the part you can see
• Dermis - [dur-mis] where blood vessels and nerves are at work
• Hypodermis - [hahy-puh-dur-mis] mostly made of fat; where your hair grows from
How Thick Is My Skin?
If you’ve ever had a cut on your skin, you know that it’s not very thick at all. On average, your skin is only about 1.5 millimeters thick. It is thickest on the soles of our feet and thinnest on our eyelids.
Is it Alive?
Here’s something fun to try. Look down at your hands. What do you see? Anything unusual? Even though you can’t see it, your skin is hard at work making new cells. It takes from two weeks to a month to make a new cell. When these cells are ready they will work their way to your epidermis, pushing the old, dead ones to the surface. So when you look at your skin, you’re actually seeing dead cells. In fact, our skin loses about 30,000 to 40,000 dead cells every minute!
Skin-Tastic Facts!
• Frogs don’t drink water; they absorb it
through their skin.
• Polar bear’s skin is black to absorb heat from the sun.
• Besides humans, pigs are the only other animal that can get sunburned skin.
• Ostrich skin makes the strongest leather.
• Some humans and animals have no ‘melanin’ (an enzyme that produces color) in their skin. This makes them completely white.

Question 2

What is your body’s heaviest organ?

Answer 2

the liver

Question 3

Your skin is about as thick as….

Answer 3

a dime

Question 4

Explain how our skin helps to keep our bodies healthy.

Answer 4

It protects our organs and keeps out infections. It also has nerves that help us perceive pain.

Question 5

When you look at someone,

which layer of their skin can you see?

Answer 5

epidermis

Question 6

Which layer of skin does hair grow from?

Answer 6

hypodermis

Question 7

Which layer of skin contains blood vessels and nerves?

Answer 7

dermis

Question 8

What is the enzyme in skin that gives it color?

Answer 8

melanin

Question 9

How does a polar bear’s skin help it survive in the Arctic?

Answer 9

Its skin is black, which absorbs heat.