Final answer:
The statement associating warping of bones in fires with rigor mortis is false. Warping is due to high temperatures whereas rigor mortis is due to chemical changes causing muscle stiffness after death. Wolff's law explains how bones remodel based on stress.
Step-by-step explanation:
The statement in the question is false. During fires, the warping of bones is caused by the effects of thermal damage at high temperatures, not by rigor mortis. Rigor mortis is a post-mortem condition characterized by the stiffening of muscles after death due to changes in the body's biochemistry, specifically when myosin heads will not detach from the actin-binding sites, resulting in muscle stiffness. In a live person, the rapid detachment of myosin heads from actin causes muscle relaxation and could result in conditions like 'writer's cramp', while in a recently dead person this failure to detach results in rigor mortis.
It's important to note that bones, cartilage, and ligaments are all made of various types of tissue, with bones containing living tissue that is active and can remodel in response to stress, as described by Wolff's law. Additionally, muscle movement is initiated by muscle cells contracting to pull on bones, not the other way around.