Today from Bedtime Math: New Year's Body

When New Year’s rolls around, a lot of grown-ups make a “resolution,” or promise, to do a better job of taking care of themselves. A lot of people decide they’re going to lose weight, or work out at the gym to have stronger muscles, and so on. But when you look at how the human body works, you see why this is all so hard to do. Some body parts weigh a lot and don’t change very easily. Your skin alone weighs several pounds. Your small intestine, which is the long, soft tube from your stomach that digests your food and turn it into poop, is 3-4 times as long as you are! Not to mention the hundreds of bones that you have, which all weigh something. When we look at what our body makes and grows, we start to see there’s a lot going on in there.

Now here's today's math~

Wee ones: You have about 500,000 sweat glands just on your feet, and 100,000 hair follicles on your head making hair. Which one do you have more of?

Little kids: Your spit weighs something, too: over your life you’ll make about 6,000 gallons of spit, enough to fill 2 swimming pools! About how much spit is that per pool?  Bonus: Your small intestine, if stretched out, is about 3 times as long as you are! If you’re 4 feet tall, about how long are your intestines?

Big kids: When you’re a grown-up you’ll have a total of 206 bones. If bones weigh 2 ounces on average, how much will your bones weigh?  Bonus: House dust is mostly dead skin cells shed by you and your family – ewwww. In fact, one person sheds a pound and a half of skin every year! How many pounds in one year would that be for a family of 4?

Answers:
Wee ones: More sweat glands.

Little kids: About 3,000 gallons of spit.  Bonus: About 12 feet.

Big kids: 412 ounces, or more than 25 pounds.  Bonus: 6 pounds.