The Science of Calcium in Our Bones
The Science of Calcium in Our Bones — an illustrated science story. 10 illustrated pages, free to read on Wonder Science.
Page 1
Inside the bustling gymnasium at Everett Middle School, Petra watched her friend Reem land awkwardly from the uneven bars. There was a sharp crack, and Reem cried out, clutching her arm as Coach Rivera rushed to her side. "I think it's broken!" Reem sobbed, her face pale with shock. Petra stared, her own hands trembling as she asked the coach, "But why do bones break? I thought they were supposed to be the strongest part of us."
Page 2
Later, in the quiet hallway outside the nurse's office, Petra looked worriedly at the closed door. Coach Rivera put a reassuring hand on her shoulder and said, "Bones are incredibly strong, Petra, because they're packed with a mineral called Calcium, like bricks in a wall." The coach paused, then added, "A cool thing to remember is that your entire skeleton is constantly rebuilding itself. It completely replaces itself about every ten years!"
Page 3
Petra's mind drifted away from the San Francisco school hallway, spiraling back through time. She imagined London in the early 1800s, a city of cobblestone streets and flickering gaslights. In a laboratory filled with strange glass tubes and wires, a curious man was trying to solve one of nature's biggest puzzles.
Page 4
This was Sir Humphry Davy, a brilliant English chemist famous for his dazzling public lectures. "He was the rockstar of science back then," Petra whispered to herself, watching him prepare an experiment. He wasn't just looking for new elements; he was on a quest to break things apart to see what they were truly made of.
Page 5
Davy turned to a young assistant, a spark of excitement in his eyes. "My friend, remember what I always say," he declared, his voice echoing slightly in the lab. "'Nothing is so fatal to the progress of the human mind as to suppose that our views of science are ultimate... that there are no new worlds to conquer!' Today, we conquer lime!"
Page 6
In 1808, Davy used the immense power of a battery to pass an electric current through molten lime. As electricity crackled, a tiny, silvery-white bead of metal appeared for the very first time. Petra gasped, whispering, "He did it! He found the 'brick' inside the rock. That electric current is like a tiny lightning bolt, and a real one is five times hotter than the surface of the sun!"
Page 7
Isolating calcium changed everything. Suddenly, scientists understood what made bones strong, what plants needed to grow, and what made cement so durable. Our bodies contain over a kilogram of this amazing metal, with ninety-nine percent of it building the framework of our bones and teeth.
Page 8
Back home in her Noe Valley kitchen that evening, Petra told her father about Reem's accident. "Coach said our whole skeleton replaces itself every ten years!" Petra exclaimed. Her father nodded, smiling. "That's right, it's called bone remodeling. So the calcium you eat today is literally building the strong bones you'll have years from now."
Page 9
"Exactly!" her mother said, placing a plate of cheesy pasta on the table. "So when you eat this, you're literally eating future-bone-bricks." Petra giggled, grabbing her fork. "Wow, even the Eiffel Tower grows in the summer from thermal expansion, but our bones rebuild themselves from the inside out all year long!"
Page 10
Petra opened her notebook and wrote: Calcium is the mineral that makes our bones strong, and our body is always using it to rebuild our skeleton. As she finished, she looked over at her family's small fish tank. "It's amazing how our bodies use minerals," she mused aloud, "but how do fish breathe in the water? They don't have lungs like us!"
About this story
- Audience: kids (ages 6–12)
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