Eye structure and how it works
By Eric
The Ear
The ear as we all know is the reason why we can hear things. It is critical in our every day lives. Without our ears we wouldn't be able to hear and talk .Here we will be talking about the ear the main parts of its structure, how it works and what it does.
The structure of the ear
The structure of the ear is made up of 3 parts the outer ear, the middle ear and finally the inner ear. In the outer ear we have 3 main components first we have the ear flap the ear flap is the oval funnel like shape on our heads. Then we have the pinna, the pinna is the soft bone part surrounding your ear flap. Then lastly we have the auditory canal which is the tunnel like hole going inside your ear. Then in the middle ear we have the ear drum which is at the end of the auditory canal. Then above the ear drum we have the hammer. Above the hammer we have the anvil and connected to the anvil we have the stirrup. In the inner part of the ear there is the cochlea, the auditory nerve, we also have the 3 semicircular canals which are above and connected to the cochlea and finally the eustachian tube.
What does it do
The pinna helps keeping the ear straight and not falling down. The Ear flap is to direct sound into the auditory canal. The auditory canal is to make it easier for sound to get to the ear drum. The eardrum, hammer, anvil and stirrup is to amplify sound. he cochlea is to translate the sound vibrations and finally the eustachian tube is to control air pressure. The semicircular canals tell the brain how to balance.
How does it work?
The pinna works to keep the ear flap up by connecting all of it together. The ear flap works to guide sound by having a funnel shape to kinda trap sound. The auditory cannel works by making the sound have less space to travel and the eardrum, hammer, anvil and stirrup work by when the sound vibrations hit the ear drum it starts to vibrate as well because of its drum like shape. Those vibrations then set the ossicles into motion (the ossicles is a set of small bones) which then moves up to the hammer then to the anvil and then to the stirrup this helps sound move along the ear. In fact without the ossicles only 0.1 percent of sound would get to the end of our ear. The auditory nerves like it suggests is made up of nerves that connect to the brain. The cochlea translates sound by changing them into electrical impulses which are the sent down the auditory nerve system down to the brain. The eustachian tube works by opening and closing the tube. Opening it changes the air pressure while closing it makes the pressure in your ear the same even if your body is experiencing different amounts of pressure. The semicircular canals tell your brain how to balance using liquids when your head moves the liquid inside the canals move around and moves the tiny hairs that line the canals they then send this movement into your brain to help it tell how to balance. A cool fact is that the reason why you get dizzy is because after you spin around for a while the liquids inside the canals keep moving making it seem like you are still moving but you are actually not making the brain confused and throwing you off balance.
Bibliography
http://www.indiana.edu/~emusic/acoustics/ear.htm
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/experts-how-do-the-hammer-anvil-a/
http://kidshealth.org/kid/htbw/ears.html
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/experts-how-do-the-hammer-anvil-a/
http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/874348-overview
http://kidshealth.org/kid/htbw/ears.html
http://kidshealth.org/kid/word/s/word_semicircular_canals.html
To learn more watch this video
How the ear works