Growth and Development of Bones

Ossification is the formation of bone which is produced from osteoblasts and osteoclasts combined with minerals and salts. Calcium compounds must be present for ossification to take place. Osteoblasts take blood from minerals from the blood and deposit them in the bone. By the time we are born, many of the bones have been at least partly ossified. In addition to the metabolically active cellular portion of bone tissue, bone is also made up of a matrix of different materials, including primarily collagen fibers and crystalline salts. The crystalline salts in the matrix of bone are composed mostly of calcium and phosphate, which are combined to form hydroxyapatite crystals. As you can see, the chemical formula for hydroxyapatite crystals includes molecules of calcium, phosphate, and hydroxide.The collagen fibers and the calcium salts that help to strengthen bone. The collagen fibers of bone have great tensile strength, while the calcium salts, which are similar in physical properties to marble, have great compressional strength . These combined properties, plus the degree of bondage between the collagen fibers and the crystals, provide a bony structure that has both extreme tensile and compressional strength