(https://www.himed.

com/blog/new-address-phone-number)
Himed hasn’t moved, but we do have a new address and phone number. READ MORE > ×

News (/blog/category/News), Nature (/blog/category/Nature)

How Could Dinosaur Bones

Support Such a Massive Load?!
(/blog/exploring-engineering-of-
dinosaur-bones)
November 23, 2020 (/blog/exploring-engineering-of-dinosaur-bones)

Source (https://phys.org/news/2020-08-dinosaurs-unique-bone-key-weight.html)

The world’s biggest (https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/2019/03/worlds-

biggest-t-rex-found-in-canada-scotty-dinosaur/) tyrannosaurus rex is believed to have
weighed 9.8 tons, or 19,500 lbs.

Once the question, ”so, how do you even weigh a dinosaur”

(https://cosmosmagazine.com/history/palaeontology/so-how-do-you-weigh-a-dinosaur/)
is addressed, the second natural question to ask is “how could their bones support
such a massive load?” (https://phys.org/news/2020-08-dinosaurs-unique-bone-key-
weight.html)

New research recently published in PLOS ONE

(https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0237042)
addresses the latter. A multidisciplinary team of paleontologists, mechanical engineers,
and biomedical engineers from University of Massachusetts-Amherst, Colorado State
University, and Southern Methodist University found that the trabecular bone structure
of several “duck-billed” dinosaurs is highly specialized in supporting such large
weights.

“Unlike in mammals and birds, the trabecular bone does not increase in
thickness as the body size of dinosaurs increase. "Instead it increases in
density of the occurrence of spongy bone. Without this weight-saving
adaptation, the skeletal structure…would be so heavy, [causing them] great
difficulty moving.

- Anthony Fiorillo
(https://www.smu.edu/Dedman/Academics/Departments/Earth-
Sciences/People/Faculty/Fiorillo), SMU Paleontologist

Trabecular bone (https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/medicine-and-

dentistry/trabecular-bone), or spongy bone, is very porous and useful in transferring
large mechanical loads.

The study goes on to quantify the bone via CT scans and via FEM imaging to
determine how the architecture changes with body mass. The authors rationalize that
their findings “have "potential implications for novel bioinspired designs of stiff and
lightweight structures.”

You can read more about their findings in this CNN featured article here
(https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/19/world/dinosaur-bones-study-scn/index.html).

Source:https://phys.org/news/2020-08-dinosaurs-unique-bon…

Tagged: bone (/blog/tag/bone), trabecular bone

(/blog/tag/trabecular+bone), dinosaur (/blog/tag/dinosaur),
nature (/blog/tag/nature), fossil (/blog/tag/fossil), paleontology
(/blog/tag/paleontology), biomedical (/blog/tag/biomedical),
biomechanics (/blog/tag/biomechanics)

 0 Likes
 Share

Newer Post Older Post

White Paper on Finishing 3D Printed Five Benefits You Need to Know About
Titanium Implants (/blog/finishing-3d- Himed’s MATRIX Color™ Anodizing!
printed-devices-with-apatitic-abrasive) (/blog/2020/11/11/five-benefits-matrix-
color-anodizing)
 (http (http  Blog RSS
QUESTIONS? ASK AN R E Q U E S T O U R C O M PA N Y C A
(http://feeds.feedburner.com/Blog-
d
ENGINEER. ( H T T P S : / / W W W. H I M E D . C O M / C A
( / C O N TA C T ) Himed)

148 Sweet Hollow Road, Old Bethpage, NY 11804

516-586-5700 | email us (mailto:info@himed.com?

subject=Inquiry%20Via%20Himed%20Website)

© 2021 Himed
Privacy Policy Cookie Policy
(/home) (https://www.i (https://www.i
ubenda.com/p ubenda.com/p
rivacy- rivacy-
policy/653201 policy/653201
58) 58/cookie-
policy)