MFGE 2142 – Fundamentals of Engineering Mechanics Laboratory

Fall 2018
Georgia Southern University, Statesboro, Georgia, USA

Instructor: Dr. H. Taheri 1 Copyright © 20xx by ASME

 HUMAN ARM MODEL

Shawn Wilkes
Georgia Southern University
Statesboro, Georgia, USA

Instructor: Dr. H. Taheri 2 Copyright © 20xx by ASME

ABSTRACT
The purpose of this experiment was to learn more
applications of Newton’s Laws of Motion to Statics, in which
there is no acceleration. It was hypothesized that if the weight
changes, the force on an arm changes, even with different
distributions (vectors) of the overall force. The methods that
were used in this experiment were Newton's Laws,
gravitational force, vector force and resultant and equilibrant
vector equations. The major findings from this laboratory were
the resultant and net forces. The net force is the resultant of all
the forces, adding found by adding all the vectors together.
Instructor: Dr. H. Taheri
INTRODUCTION
During this laboratory period we used a human arm model
to test the functions of the biceps and triceps muscles. There
were two experiments performed during this lab. The first
experiment was performed to test the biceps force versus
shoulder angle as the elbow remains constant. A mass was
attached to the human arm model and was lifted while keeping
biceps force as the shoulder angle increased. This experiment
was done to determine if the biceps force increases or
decreases as the shoulder angle the elbow at a 90-degree angle.
The force sensor measured the increases.
The second experiment was executed to test the biceps
force versus the elbow angle as the forearm stays horizontal to
the ground. A 100-gram mass was attached to the arm model
and the shoulder was locked as zero. The arm was then pushed
forward so that the forearm remained horizontal to the ground
as the shoulder rotated. As this experiment was done, the
biceps force was taken. The goal was to determine if the biceps
force increased or decreased as the forearm was pushed
forward.
NOMENCLATURE
, Gravitational Force
, Resultant Force
, Equilibrant Force
Figure 1: Applied Force vs. Muscle Force with Elbow
at 90 Degrees
Above is the data that was collected during the first
experiment. Figure 1 shows the three trials that were done
with the elbow at 90 degrees. The applied force was compared
with the bicep muscle force.
3 Copyright © 20xx by ASME
 Figure 2; Force vs. Load Force with Shoulder and
Elbow at 90 Degrees
For experiment two the opposite of experiment three was
done and in return it yielded the opposite results. For
experiment four the biceps force was measured versus the
elbow angle. It can be seen from the graphs that this

Figure 3: Load force with applied force

relationship is exponential. As elbow angle increases so

does the biceps force, as an increasing rate.

Conclusion
The objective of this experiment was to examine the
relationship between the ratios of the distances and the ratio of
the forces applied for each muscle to determine whether the
hand is in fact stationary and therefore in equilibrium. For the
bicep, we measured the distance from the cord on the sensor
on the hand to the elbow at r 1= 36.8cm, while the distance

Instructor: Dr. H. Taheri 4 Copyright © 20xx by ASME

from the elbow to the cord of the sensor that is connected to
the bicep was r 2= 4.4cm. When we used to the software, to
determine the ratio of F2/F1, we got a value of 6.8 which was
considerable deviated from the ratio of our experimentally
derived distances. The value of the ratio of the two forces F 2/F1
was 9.21 which also indicated a considerable % difference,
although this percent difference (9.8%) was half of that found
in the biceps. Accordingly, our results from both muscles
essentially proved that F2/F1≠ r1/r2, which tells us that our
experiment was not properly executed since our goal was to
maintain the hand at equilibrium. There are various errors that
might have led to these deviations from our expected and
desired results. The improper use of the software program or
problems with the sensors and the instrument itself were
possibly the main source of errors that skewed our results. For
future reference, prior to conducting the experiment we must
ensure that the instrument along with the sensors and the
signals sent to the computer software work properly.

Instructor: Dr. H. Taheri 5 Copyright © 20xx by ASME