Human Body

Infographics
Human Body
Infographics
By Harriet Brundle
Designed by Matt Rumbelow
 A catalogue record for this book is available
from the British Library.
Written by:
All images courtesy of Shutterstock.com. With thanks to
©This edition was published Harriet Brundle Getty Images, Thinkstock Photo and iStockphoto
in 2020. First published in 2017.
All facts, statistics, web addresses and URLs in this
Edited by:
BookLife Publishing Ltd. book were verified as valid and accurate at time of
Grace Jones writing. No responsibility for any changes to external
King's Lynn websites or references can be accepted by either the
Norfolk, PE30 4LS author or publisher.
Designed by:
ISBN: 978-1-83927-324-7 Matt Rumbelow All rights reserved. Printed in Malaysia.
 Human Body
Infographics
Contents
Page 4 The Human Body
Page 6 The Skeleton
Page 8 The Muscles
Page 10 The Brain
Page 12 The Heart and Blood
Page 14 The Respiratory System
Page 16 The Five Senses
Page 20 The Immune System
Page 22 Reproduction and Birth
Page 24 Growth
Page 26 Healthy Living
Page 28 Record Breakers
Page 30 A
 ctivity Words that
look like this
Page 31 Glossary are explained in
Page 32 Index the glossary on
page 31.
 Head

The
Neck

Human
Body
Torso
Hand

Arm

The human body is the collection

of all the parts that make up a
human being. The basic parts
of the body are:

Leg

Brain
Foot

Heart

Stomach

Lungs

Large Intestine

The small intestine is

around seven metres long.

5
 The body is covered
in skin. We have skin
for three reasons:

Protection

Feeling

To help regulate our

body temperature

We have hair on our bodies to keep us warm.

100,000
There are around 100,000 hairs on the average human head.

Humans need water, air and food in order to survive.

6
 The Skeleton
The skeleton is a collection of bones that are
connected by joints. The skeleton is the body’s
framework. Without a skeleton, our bodies
would have no shape.

The skeleton supports and

protects our vital organs.
The skull, which is also known
as the cranium, is made up of
a number of bones that join
together and protect the brain.

Bones provide a
strong surface for
muscles to attach to,
so we can move.

An adult skeleton has 206 different bones.

7
 Incus If our bones are
broken, they can
grow and repair
themselves.
Stapes
Malleus

The three smallest

bones in the body
are found in the ear.

The vertebral
column helps to
hold the body
upright.

We need calcium

50 cm in our diet to keep

our bones strong
and healthy.

The femur, or thigh

bone, is the longest
bone in the body.
It measures around
50 centimetres (cm)
on average.
8
 The Muscles
Muscles are bundles of fibres in the body that
have the ability to contract and relax, allowing
us to move.

An adult has around 640

different muscles in their body.

Volu
ntary

Involuntary

Muscles can be voluntary or involuntary. A voluntary muscle is one that

we can control at will. An involuntary muscle is automatically controlled
by our brains, meaning that we don’t have to think about it.
9
 There are three types of muscle in the human body:

1. Cardiac 2. Smooth 3. Skeletal

A type of A type of Voluntary
involuntary involuntary muscles that
muscle that muscle that is are attached to
the heart is found in areas bones and are
made of. of the body such responsible for
as the gut and our movement.
the bladder.

To bend the leg: To straighten the leg:

Qu
g
trin

ad
ms

ric
ep
Ha

The hamstring The hamstring

contracts and relaxes
pulls the lower The quadriceps
leg upwards contract and
The quadriceps pull the leg
relax
downwards

Muscles can only exert a force by contracting, so they often work in pairs in order to move
our body parts up and down. Muscles that work in this way are called antagonistic pairs.
10
 The Brain
Cranium Brain

Spinal Cord

The brain is an organ that is found inside The brain is constantly dealing with
the cranium and is connected to the top messages both from the world around
of the spinal cord. The brain is the control us and from the body. The brain controls
centre for the rest of the body. how we think and react.

The average human Sugar

Sugar
brain weighs 1.5
kilograms (kg).
1 kg = a big
bag of sugar.
11
There are three parts to the brain:

The Cerebellum
Found at the back of the brain,
this part coordinates our muscle
activity.

The Cerebrum
Found at the front of the brain,
it is the largest and most highly
developed part of the brain.
It receives messages about our
sight, touch, hearing and taste.
It is also responsible for speech,
learning, personality and memory.

The Brain Stem

Found at the bottom of the brain,
this part is responsible for keeping
the automatic, involuntary parts
of the body working, for example
allowing us to breathe and blink.

The right side of the brain

interacts mostly with the
left-hand side of the body
and vice versa.

The human brain uses around

20% of the body’s energy.

12
 The Heart
and Blood
The heart is a muscular organ that is responsible
for pumping blood all around the body. The heart is
located slightly to the left of the centre of the chest
and is around the size of your fist. It is the central
point of the circulatory system.

Blood is the red liquid

found inside the body
and it is made up of
three main parts:

Red blood cells –

carry oxygen
around the body

White blood cells –

fight infection

Platelets –
help the blood
to clot if the skin layers
have been cut through
or injured

13
How Does
the Heart Work?
Before each
heartbeat,
the heart fills
with blood.

The right side of the

heart receives blood
that has come from
the body. As the heart
beats, it pumps this
blood to the lungs,
so that it can become
oxygenated.

The left side of the heart

receives oxygenated
blood from the lungs.
As the heart beats,
it pumps this blood
around the body.

After the blood has left the heart, it travels

down a series of arteries, taking oxygen
and nutrients to all the different parts of
the body. Once the blood has deposited
the oxygen and nutrients, it flows back The average person has
to the heart via a network of veins.
four to six litres of blood in
their body at one time.

In one day, your blood

travels over
19,000 kilometres
around your body.

14
 The
Respiratory
System
The respiratory system consists of the group of organs
that are responsible for taking oxygen into the body
and expelling waste products such as carbon dioxide.

1. When we 2. The air 3. The trachea 4. The bronchi

take a breath, travels down branches into lead down into
oxygen enters our windpipe, two tubes the lungs.
our body which is also called bronchi.
through our known as the
nose or mouth. trachea.

As you breathe in, oxygen in Alveoli

the lungs passes through the
alveoli into the bloodstream.
The blood travels back to the
heart ready to be pumped
around the body.
There
When you breathe out, the Bronchioles
process happens in reverse.
are around
Waste gases, such as carbon 600 million
dioxide, transfer into the alveoli in
alveoli and travel out of our your lungs.
bodies as we breathe out. Diaphragm

15
 When we breathe in,
the diaphragm flattens to
allow the lungs to fill with
air. When you breathe out,
the diaphragm moves up to
push the air out of the lungs.

Adult

The average person breathes in 11,000

litres of air every day. That’s the same
capacity as a cement mixer!
Our rate of breathing
Ten Years
changes throughout
our life.
Three Years

Birth

30-60 20-30 17-23 12-20

breaths per breaths per breaths per breaths per
minute minute minute minute

16
 The Five Senses

Taste Sight Smell Touch Hearing

The nervous system includes specific organs

M i c ro v il li
that allow us to experience the five senses.
They work together to give the brain a clear
picture of what is happening around us.

Taste
Our sense of taste starts at the taste
buds on our tongue. Taste buds have
very sensitive hairs, called microvilli,
that send messages to the brain, which
informs us about how something tastes.

The tongue can taste five main flavours:

Bitter Sour Salty Sweet Umami

Almost everything we taste is a combination of these flavours.

17
Sight
Our eyes work with our brain to tell us

The a
the size, shape, texture and colour of
objects around us. Our eyes also help

vera
us to establish how far away an
object is from us.

ge
ye e
ll w

ba
eig
hs
Lens – focuses
7.5
gram
light onto the s.
retina

Retina – the lining

at the back of the eye Optic Nerve – carries
that contains cells that messages to the brain
are sensitive to light about what we are seeing

cm

Smell
8.8

The nose is the organ that we

use to smell. Inside the nose is
the nasal cavity, which is lined
with special receptors that are
sensitive to odour molecules.
These receptors communicate The largest nose
smells to the brain. was measured at
8.8 cm long.

18
 Hearing
We use our ears to help us hear the sounds around us. Sound travels into the inner
The ear is made of three separate parts: the outer ear, ear, which is shaped like a spiral
the middle ear and the inner ear. and is also called the cochlea.
It changes sounds into messages
Inner Ear Middle Ear Outer Ear that can be communicated to
the brain.

So
un
d

Sitting next to a loud

speaker with a
volume of around
120 decibels can
damage your
hearing in 7.5
minutes.

19
Touch
Nerves in the skin and other parts of the
body send information to our brain about
the things we touch and feel.

Cold

Hot

Pressure

Pain

There are four kinds of touch sensation.

Together, these create our sense of touch.

The fingertips, lips and

feet are some of the most
sensitive parts of the body.

Although your brain is receiving messages all the time, it filters out those that are less
important. That’s why you cannot constantly feel your clothes against your skin.
20
 The
Immune
System
Our immune system works When the body is invaded, if the
to keep us healthy and defend lymphocytes recognise the invaders,
they will lock on to them. The lymphocytes
us against organisms that invade
will then produce lots of antibodies that
the body and can cause infection are specifically designed to attack the
or disease. invaders, which then travel around the
body destroying the invading cells.
Some of the most important cells in the
immune system are the white blood cells.
These cells come in two main types:

Phagocytes – these destroy

invading organisms
The invader is then engulfed
and destroyed by phagocytes.

Lymphocytes – these remember and

recognise organisms that have already
invaded the body and help the body
to destroy them in the future

The average person has around 50 billion

white blood cells in their body – that’s
around the same amount as seven times
the human population of planet Earth!
21
How Do
We Become
Immune?
We become immune to
infection in two main ways:

Natural immunity – we gain a natural

immunity to some illnesses from
our mothers. We get some of our The body is exposed to millions of
natural immunity just by growing in germs every day, but our immune
the womb and the rest we get from system usually kills them before
feeding on our mother’s milk. they can make us unwell.

Acquired immunity – our bodies also

learn to become immune to some
illnesses over time. Our bodies catch
different diseases and infections and
the next time these same illnesses
invade our body, the body knows
7,000
There are 7,000 white blood
how to destroy them. cells in a microlitre of blood.
22
 Reproduction
and Birth
Human reproduction happens when
a sperm cell from a male and an egg
cell from a female join, develop and
eventually grow into a baby.

Egg

Sperm
A mother carries a baby for
around nine months before
giving birth.

An embryo is
around the size
of a poppy seed!
Foetus

Embryo

4 weeks 12 weeks 20 weeks 30 weeks 40 weeks

0.2 cm long 5.4 cm long 26 cm long 40 cm long 51 cm long
0.0003 grams 14 grams 288 grams 1,400 grams 3,400 grams

23
 The baby is protected
by a sack of clear fluid,
Umbilical Cord called amniotic fluid,
which acts as a cushion.

While the baby is growing,

nutrients from the food that
the mother eats and oxygen
from the air that she breathes
are given to the baby via the
placenta, which is an organ
that develops during pregnancy.
The placenta is connected to
the baby via the umbilical cord.

Cervix
As the baby is born,
it passes through the
Birth Canal cervix and is pushed
down the birth canal.

Did you know? The majority of Caucasian babies are born

with blue eyes. Their eyes then change to their true eye
colour within a few months or remain blue.
24
 Growth
The body is made up of different types of
cells and in order to grow, these cells must
multiply. Cells continue to be produced
throughout a person’s life; however,
this is most important when a person
is very young and growing quickly.

The amount that our

bones grow decides
how tall we become.
Some bones continue
to grow until we are
around 25 years old.

Boys
tend to grow
most quickly
between the
ages of 12
and 15.

Girls tend
to grow
most quickly
between 10
and 14.

25
 Over time, muscles begin
to reduce in size and
lose their strength.

Human hair grows at an

average rate of 15 cm per year.

1875
As we get older, gravity has a greater
effect on the backbone and causes the
sections of the vertebral column to press
closer together, which leads to people
1997The oldest person ever to have
lived is Jeanne Calment, who
getting shorter as they get older. lived for 122 years and 164 days.
26
 Healthy Living
In order to remain healthy, the body needs the
right amount of food, water, rest and exercise.

Diet
It is important to eat a balanced diet. There are five main food groups:
Fats
give us energy and
provide a layer of fat
on our bodies that
keeps us warm Protein
helps our body
to repair itself
Dairy
is a good source of
calcium, which helps Vitamins
to build healthy and minerals
bones and teeth do a vast range
of jobs including
healing wounds

Carbohydrates
are used by the
body to give us A balanced
energy diet and plenty
of exercise helps
to keep us
healthy.

27
Water
It is important for our bodies that
we stay well hydrated – this means 5-8 years old = 5 glasses
drinking plenty of water. of water per day

Exercise
Exercising makes you feel strong and
healthy. It has lots of other benefits too:

9-12 years old = 7 glasses

of water per day

Makes muscles Helps you to

stronger feel happy

13+ years old = 8-10

glasses of water per day

Rest
While asleep, the body is busy
Keeps your weight Reduces the risk
at a healthy level of illness repairing and strengthening
itself. Our brain cannot function
properly without sleep.

10-11
Most children between the
ages of 5 and 12 years old
need 10-11 hours of sleep
Exercise can be anything from a game of per night.
football to running up and down the stairs.
28
 Record
Breakers
716 g
The most jelly
eaten with
chopsticks in
one minute

58 cm long
The longest sword
ever swallowed

The tallest man

ever to have lived is
Robert Wadlow, who
was measured at

2.72 m tall
29
 The record for the
longest tongue is

10.1 cm

5.6 m
77
The record for the
The longest head hair ever most star jumps in
recorded belonged to Xie Qiuping one minute is 77.
and measured 5.6 m long. She has See how many
been growing her hair since 1973. you can do!
30
 Activity

1 Ask a parent or friend to collect

a selection of objects that have
a range of different textures and
shapes. Without looking, feel inside

2
the bag and see how many of the
objects you can identify correctly
just using your sense of touch.

Pick up two pencils.

Hold one in each
hand and spread
your arms wide.
Close one eye and
try to bring the

3
pencils together so
their ends touch.
Did you miss?

Now try with both

eyes open and see the
difference. What do you
think this tells us about
how our eyes work
together?

31
Glossary
antibodies blood proteins that attack specific foreign substances in the body
arteries 
tubes that carry blood away from the heart and to the rest of the body
automatically 
doing something independently, without being controlled by
something else
carbon dioxide a natural, colourless gas found in the air
Caucasian  white-skinned
cells the smallest units that make up all living things
circulatory system  responsible for moving blood around the body
clot when blood turns into a gel-like state to prevent blood loss
when the skin layers are broken, usually after an injury occurs
contract to become shorter or smaller
decibels the units used to measure how loud a sound is
deposited to leave something somewhere
embryo a baby that has been developing in its
mother’s uterus for less than eight weeks
fibres thread-like structures
foetus a baby that has been developing in its mother’s womb
for more than eight weeks and has started to grow organs
microlitre one-millionth of a litre
odour molecules the particles that make smells
organisms individual plants, animals or cells
oxygenated to have added oxygen to something
regulate control or maintain something
reproduction the process of having young
veins tubes that carry blood back to the heart
vital organs organs inside the body that are essential to
our survival, for example the heart and lungs

32
 Index
cells 12, 17, 20–22, 24
babies 22–23
birth canal 23
blood 12–14, 20–21
bones 6–7, 9, 24–26
healthy 7, 20, 26–27
infection 12, 20–21
involuntary 8–9, 11
microvilli 16
muscles 6, 8–9, 11, 25, 27
organs 6, 10, 12, 14, 16–17, 23
oxygen 12–14, 23
sleep 27
spinal cord 10
voluntary 8–9

33
Human Body
Explore the amazing human body with this visually
orientated title. Readers can expect modern,
engaging imagery and informative text.

Infographics
Awe-inspiring facts presented in an informative and
visually engaging infographic style.