i want to find out the smallest organ for my school.
2006-10-01 05:01:44 · 22 answers · asked by Anonymous in Science & Mathematics ➔ Biology
Interesting question ... but as noted above, it can be difficult to define what is an organ.
The inner ear has a number of very small parts that I think are organs, including the ossicles (malleus, incus, and stapes), the organ of corti in the cochlea, and the very tiny organs of the vestibular/balance system (saccule, utricle and semi-circular canals). There is also the smallest muscle, the 1 mm stapedius.
Several glands are very small too: the parathyroids, pituitary, and pineal. They would be considered organs.
But I think one could consider structures that are much smaller as organs. Things like hair follicles, taste buds, or sweat glands might pass muster. My old physio book defines organ as "a collection of tissues joined in a structural unit to serve a common purpose, " and I think these things fit that.
They each have multiple cell types, a unified structural organization, blood and nervous supply, and they are capable of responding independently to a signal or need (i.e. a taste bud responds to a flavor regardless of what it's neighbors are doing, and so on). Plus, if salivary glands are secretory organs, why not sweat glands? If eyes are the sense organs of sight, why not taste buds as the sense organs of taste? And if a fingernail is an organ derived from the skin, why not a hair follicle?
2006-10-02 13:09:53 · answer #1 · answered by Bad Brain Punk 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I guess the question is what do you mean by an organ. A single neuron could be an organ and it is very small but the eye would be the smallest. You have to specify what you want.
2006-10-01 05:04:58 · answer #2 · answered by Kourtney 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It depends what you mean by organ. The bones in the inner ear or the 'Ossicles' are miniscule. There are three: the Malleus (hammer), Incus (anvil) and Stapes (stirrup). They are all joined and it is their reaction to outside air stimulii which transmits vibration to the middle of the inner ear or the cochlea. I reckon, all three could easily fit on to a fingernail. This is what I remember from school years ago, so it may be a bit more complex than that, but that's roughly the theory of how it all works.
2006-10-01 05:24:12 · answer #3 · answered by stef555stef 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
the smallest human organ is the oscicles
2006-10-01 05:35:17 · answer #4 · answered by Leo A James 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Anything small we may have in or on a baby! But my bet would be stapes, the smallest bone and thus smallest organ in the body.
2006-10-01 06:14:32 · answer #5 · answered by groovusy 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Don't know the answer but be carefull before you accept any of the answers I saw prior to mine. An organ ,by definition, is composed of several different tissues, such as, bone, muscle, blood ,&epithelial tissue. A single bone or gland or nerve cell may not fit into this catagory.
2006-10-01 06:23:29 · answer #6 · answered by ursaitaliano70 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
A wurlitzer MS-23.
2006-10-01 05:27:30 · answer #7 · answered by I loathe YH answers 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
pineal gland- this is located in the brain and is often refered to as the third eye.
2006-10-01 05:09:44 · answer #8 · answered by chunniemonster 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The shoemustbuyalota.
It is very tiny and is right next to the heart of most adult females.
2006-10-01 05:04:16 · answer #9 · answered by Isis 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Salivary glands.
2006-10-01 05:04:08 · answer #10 · answered by Transgénico 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋