Bones come in many different shapes and sizes, which all serve different purposes.
The shape that is unique to each bones fufills a particular need within the body.
Bones are classified by their shape such as long bones, short bones, flat bones and irregular bones. Each and every bone has two layers, the external layer made up of compact bone and the inner layer made up of spongy bone. We will delve into the structure of bone more in another article.

Long Bones

The long bones are long bones made up of mostly compact bone and have two ends plus a shaft. Even though the name suggest that these bones are long it is more descriptive of the shape, as the bones in your fingers are long bones but in reality are short in length. Now long bones can actually be very long as in the case of the bones in your limbs.

Short Bones

The short bones are made up of mostly spongy bone but do have some compact bone making up the thin outer layer. The majority of short bones are cube shaped and are found in areas such as the wrist and ankle bones.

Flat Bones

The flat bones are like the name suggests and are flattened and usually have a curved shape to them. The flat bones have a spongy bone center flanked by a layer of compact bone on both sides. a good example of flat bones are the bones of the cranium (skull)

Irregular Bones

The irregular bones are the misfits of the skeleton as they do not fit any of the above classifiactions of bones so they have to have a classification of their own. The irregular bones consist mostly of spongy bone encased in a thin layer of compact bone.

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