Free Human Skeleton MCQs with Answers

• A. 200
• B. 206
• C. 213
• D. 306

Explanation: An adult has 206 bones, 80 in the axial skeleton and 126 in the appendicular skeleton.

• A. Femur
• B. Clavicle
• C. Sternum
• D. Scapula

Explanation: The axial skeleton is the central supporting column: skull, vertebral column, ribs and sternum.

• A. 5
• B. 12
• C. 4
• D. 7

Explanation: There are seven cervical vertebrae, and the number is seven in almost all mammals, including the giraffe, whose neck is long because each…

• A. humerus
• B. tibia
• C. femur
• D. fibula

Explanation: The femur is the thigh bone, roughly a quarter of a person's height, and it carries the whole body weight during walking, so its shaft is…

• A. a Haversian system
• B. a sarcomere
• C. a lacuna
• D. the periosteum

Explanation: A Haversian system, or osteon, is the cylindrical unit of compact bone: rings of hard matrix around a canal carrying a blood vessel and a…

• A. salts of calcium, such as calcium phosphate
• B. silica particles
• C. sodium chloride crystals
• D. chitin fibres

Explanation: Bone combines a flexible framework of collagen with hard calcium salts, giving both strength and a little spring.

• A. 5
• B. 7
• C. 10
• D. 12

Explanation: Of the twelve pairs of ribs, the first seven attach directly to the sternum by their own cartilages and are called true ribs.

• A. 14
• B. 16
• C. 22
• D. 29

Explanation: Eight cranial bones enclose the brain and fourteen facial bones form the face, giving 22 in all.

• A. 5
• B. 7
• C. 4
• D. 12

Explanation: The column has 7 cervical, 12 thoracic, 5 lumbar, 5 fused sacral and 4 fused coccygeal vertebrae.

• A. clavicle and scapula
• B. femur and tibia
• C. radius and ulna
• D. sternum and ribs

Explanation: Each half of the pectoral girdle is a clavicle plus a scapula, and the arm bones attach at the shoulder socket.

• A. maxilla
• B. mandible
• C. nasal bone
• D. zygomatic bone

Explanation: The mandible hinges at the temporomandibular joint, allowing chewing and speech, while every other skull bone is locked to its neighbours…

• A. contracts at the same time
• B. contracts even more strongly
• C. relaxes
• D. detaches from the bone

Explanation: Muscles can only pull, so the flexor biceps and the extensor triceps work as antagonists: one contracts while the other relaxes, and they…

• A. ligaments
• B. cartilage
• C. synovial fluid
• D. tendons

Explanation: Tendons are cords of tough collagen that tie muscle to bone and transmit the pull of contraction.

• A. Smooth muscle
• B. Skeletal muscle
• C. Cardiac muscle
• D. Biceps muscle

Explanation: Smooth muscle lines the gut, blood vessels and airways, contracting slowly and without conscious control.

• A. without a plasma membrane
• B. multinucleated
• C. without any cytoplasm
• D. prokaryotic

Explanation: Each fibre is a long cylinder formed by the fusion of many cells, so it carries a row of nuclei beneath its membrane.

• A. tendons
• B. muscle fibres
• C. ligaments
• D. cartilage discs

Explanation: Ligaments stabilise a joint by tying the bones together while still permitting movement.

• A. synergists
• B. flexors only
• C. rotators
• D. antagonists

Explanation: Antagonistic pairs such as biceps and triceps allow controlled movement in both directions because muscles can pull but never push.

• A. myosin
• B. actin
• C. troponin
• D. tubulin

Explanation: Myosin molecules form the thick filament, their heads projecting to pull on actin during contraction.

• A. storing glycogen in the muscle
• B. detaching myosin heads from actin and pumping calcium back after contraction
• C. synthesising haemoglobin
• D. nothing once contraction has begun

Explanation: Each myosin head needs a fresh ATP to release actin and re-cock, and the calcium pump needs ATP to restore relaxation.

• A. A band
• B. H zone
• C. I band
• D. Z line

Explanation: The I band holds only thin actin filaments and shortens during contraction, while the A band spans the whole length of the myosin.