Review Sheet Results

1.If you were using your bicep muscles to curl a 7-kg dumbbell, when would your
muscles be contracting isotonically?
Your answer:When your arm extends downwards to the point of it being straight.
(but not while it is straight) & when the arm rises fromthedown position back to the
raised position
2. Explain why the latent period became longer as the load became heavier in
the experiment. How well did the resultscompare with your prediction?
Your answer:The latent period occurs when there is a rise in muscle tension but no
movement or contraction of the muscle. Crossbridgescycle and when the muscle
tension exceeds the load, muscle shortening happens. The latent period increases
as the weightof the load gets heavier, this is for the necessary force to
be generated by the muscle
3. Explain why the shortening velocity became slower as the load became heavier
in this experiment. How well did theresults compare with your prediction?
Your answer:The shortening velocity refers to the speed of the contraction from the
muscle shortening while lifting a load. Maximalshortening velocity is only attained
with a minimal load. With a light load, the shortening velocity is at its Maximal
shorteningvelocity. When the weight is heavy, the speed in which the muscle lifts
the weight decreases in speed at a slower velocity.My prediction was correct.
4. Describe how the shortening distance changed as the load became heavier in
this experiment. How well did the resultscompare with your prediction?Your
answer:The shortening distance decreased with the heavier load. I was wrong. I
said that the shortening distance was going toincrease.
5. Explain why it would take you longer to perform 10 repetitions lifting a 10-
kg weight than it would to perform the samenumber of repetitions with a 5-kg
weight.Your answer:It would take longer with the heavier weight because as the
weight of the load increases, so does the latent period time andthe shortening
velocity speeds. With the lighter weight, the muscle is contracted quicker in both
latent and shorteningvelocity speeds.
6. Describe what would happen in the following experiment: A 2.5-g weight is
attached to the end of the isolated wholeskeletal muscle used in these
experiments. Simultaneously, the muscle is maximally stimulated by 8.5 volts
and
the platformsupporting the weight is removed. Will the muscle generate force? Will
the muscle change length? What is the name for thistype of contraction?Your
answer:The muscle will still generate force and change length. This is an isotonic
contraction