Question

While playing basketball, nine-year-old marcus fell and broke his left arm. the arm was placed in a cast and appeared to heal normally. as an adult, marcus was puzzled because it seemed that his right arm is longer than his left arm. he measured both arms and he was correct his right arm is longer! how would you explain to marcus what happened?

Answer 1

The difference in length between Marcus's arms could be due to the thickening of the bone in his right arm from a previous fracture.

Step-by-step explanation:

As an adult, Marcus noticed that his right arm appeared longer than his left arm. This could be explained by the fact that during childhood, Marcus broke his left arm and had it placed in a cast. When a bone is fractured, it goes through a healing process called bone remodeling, where the bone tissue is repaired and reshaped. Sometimes, during this process, the bone can become thicker. In Marcus's case, the fracture in his left arm might have resulted in the bone healing thicker and therefore appearing shorter compared to his right arm which did not undergo the same remodeling process.

Therefore, the difference in length between Marcus's arms could be due to the thickening of the bone in his right arm, rather than the actual length of the bone. It's important to note that this is just a possible explanation and additional factors could also contribute to the perceived difference in arm length.

Answer 2

If his right arm is longer, this means that his left arm is shorter - so his injury must have somehow shortened his arm. It is possible that the left bone, although perfectly healed, is slightly bent as a result of the injury, making the arm shorter in the straight line.

Also, some of the bone tissue might have been damaged and removed by the body slowly - putting the healthy bone parts together, resulting in a shorter bone.