Changes At Puberty: Height, Voice, Body shape

Question 1 How does the height of boys and girls change during puberty?

Question 2 Name one factor on which the height of a person depends?

Question 3 How do shoulders and chest changes in boys during puberty?

Question 4 How do hips of girls changes during puberty?

Question 5 What is the common name of the bulge or projection at the front of throat in grown up boys?

Question 6 What is the other name of voice box?

Question 7 Which of the two have a smaller voice box: Grown up boys or grown up girls?

Question 8 What is the effect of a larger voice box in grown up boys?

Question 9 What is the effect of a larger voice box in grown up girls?

Question 10 What is the common name of the bulge at the front of throat in grown up boys?

Question 11 State the ways in which the body shape of boys changes during puberty?

Question 12 State the ways in which the body shape of girls changes during puberty?

Question 13 What is Adam’s apple?

Question 14 What change in the voice of boys take place when they reach puberty? What is the cause of this change?

(1) Increase in height

There is sudden increase in the height of boys and girls. The long bones elongate or lengthen and make a person tall.

Initially girls grow faster then boys but by about 18 yrs of age, both boys and girls reach maximum height. The maximum height of boys is slightly more than that of girls. Some boys and girls may grow suddenly at puberty and then slow down, while others may grow gradually.

Sometimes the arms and legs, or hands and feet of adolescent boys and girls look oversized and out of proportion with the body. But soon the other parts catch up with them in growth.

The height of a person depends on the genes inherited from the parents.

 

(2) Change in Body shape and appearance

When a child is small , sometimes it become difficult to tell from appearance whether it is a boy or a girl.This is because small boys and girls have the same body shape.

When puberty is set in, a time of rapid changes in body shape and appearance starts in boys and girls which make the boys and girls look different from one another.

Testes in the boys and ovaries in girls make different hormones which make the bodies of boys and girls to develop in different way.

Changes in body shape and appearance in boys and girls brought about by the onset of puberty are:

(1) Boys develop broader shoulders and wider chests than girls.

(2) Girls develop broader hips than boys. Due to this, the region below waist become wider in girls than boys.

(3) Boys develop more muscle than girls. So, the body of boys look more muscular than that of girls.

(4) Boys develop Adam’s apple which makes them look different from girls.

(5) Girls develop breasts. This also changes the body shape of grown up girls.

(6) Boys develop facial hairs but the girls do not have facial hair.

(3) Change in voice

When we are talking, our voice is produced by the voice box. The voice box is in our throat. Voice box is also called as Larynx.

At puberty, the voice box begins to grow in boys as well as girls. The growth of voice box in boys become much more than the growth of voice box in girls. Due to this, the voice box in boys become much bigger than the voice box in girls.

The bigger voice box in boys gives deeper voice or low pitched voice. The bigger voice box in grown up boy can be seen as a bulge in front of the throat. The bulge or projection at the front of throat or neck in grown up boys is called Adam’s apple. It is formed in grown up boys because of their bigger voice box in the throat. It is called Adam’s  apple after the story of Adam and Eve described in the Bible in which Adam ate a piece of forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden which got struck in his throat. An Adam’s apple sometimes look like a small rounded apple just under the skin in front of throat.

A rough and harsh voice is called hoarse voice. In adolescent boys, sometimes the muscles of the growing voice box go out of control due to which their voice becomes hoarse. This state of hoarseness of voice may remain for few days or few weeks after which the voice become normal. During this time, the vocal cords of the voice box get adjusted to the new, bigger size of the voice box.

In girls, the voice box is comparatively small in size due to which it is hardly visible from outside. So girls do not develop Adam’s apple at puberty.