Apply body planes and cavities
Slice the body along the three anatomical planes and place a structure in the dorsal or ventral cavity.
- Standard anatomical position: Planes and directions are only defined relative to a body standing upright, facing forward, palms forward: without this reference, 'front' and 'back' have no fixed meaning.
- Left and right belong to the body, not the viewer: A sagittal plane splits the body's own left from its own right, so students must first know that 'left' means the patient's left.
Prerequisites are inferred: pending teacher review.
Re-learn the skill with worked practice and clear examples.
There are three planes (sagittal, frontal, transverse) and two main cavities (dorsal toward the back, ventral toward the front). Each plane makes a specific pair of halves.
A body is sliced so that one part is the entire front of the body and the other part is the entire back of the body. Which plane made this cut?
Reviewed- A.The transverse plane
- B.The frontal (coronal) plane
- C.The sagittal plane
- D.No plane can do this
Show the worked solution ▾
Answer: B. The frontal (coronal) plane
- Step 1: Name the two halves: The cut makes a front part and a back part of the body.
- Step 2: Match to the definition: The frontal (coronal) plane is the one defined by separating front from back, so it made this cut.
Why it's right: A cut that separates the front of the body from the back is, by definition, the frontal (coronal) plane.
- A: The transverse plane separates top from bottom, not front from back.
- C: The sagittal plane separates left from right, not front from back.
- D: A plane can absolutely make this cut: it is the frontal plane.
Aligned to HBS 1.1: body planes · reading level ~grade 9
- A CT scan labeled 'transverse view' shows a top-down slice, telling the radiologist they are looking at the body cut into a top part and a bottom part.
Fill these in as you work through the lesson.
- Plane (an imaginary flat cut):
- Sagittal plane (runs head-to-toe, front to back):
- Cavity (a hollow space that holds organs):
- Dorsal (toward the back):
A cut that separates the left side from the right side is the plane; a cut that separates the front from the back is the plane; a cut that separates the top from the bottom is the plane.
- If you wanted two halves where one is the front of the body and one is the back, which plane would you cut along?
- Name the two main body cavities and say which one is toward the back.
- Why do all of these directions assume the body is standing in anatomical position?
Karate-chop a banana straight down the middle so you get a left half and a right half. Name the plane you just used, then name the plane you would use to split the banana into a front half and a back half.