Question

just what am i supposed to do here?

Design Your Own Experiment: Musculoskeletal Fatigue Experiment

Inventory Material sFull Lab Kit Box Rubber Band Rubber Ball Labware*Stopwatch/Timer Note: You must provide the materials listed in *red. EXPERIMENT

3: DESIGN YOUR OWN EXPERIMENT: MUSCLE FATIGUE

Design an experiment to test temperature-independent musculoskeletal fatigue using any of the materials provided. IMPORTANT: Students must submit personally designed experimental procedures to a teacher for approval prior to performing the experiment. When designing your experiment, create a hypothesis, identify dependent and independent variables, identify controls, include calculations where useful, record appropriate data, and report important data in an organized manner. After completing your ex-periment, write a brief post-lab report in which you address your hypothesis, procedure, data, calculations, data analysis, potential sources of error, conclusion, and additional questions or “next-steps”.

Answer 1

Hypothesis : After vigorous exercise beyond a time muscle fatigue occurs, the ability of the muscle to generate force declines.

Dependent variable : The number of times rubber band can be stretched or squeezed in a particular time.

Independent variable : Time

Control : The rubber band will be bound to the surface of the rubber ball but it will not be stretched, 5 readings will be taken for 100 seconds. (Eventually all 5 readings will be 0 as the rubber band is not being stretched)

Procedure : Using a rubber ball, a rubber band will be stretched for 20 seconds using a stopwatch at a go. The number of times rubber band stretched will be recorded. The same process will be repeated for next 20 seconds. In this way 5 readings will be taken i.e. for 100 seconds.

Data : Recording of all 5 trials.

Observation : More the time lesser number of stretching.

Analysis of data : By plotting the time (in seconds) along horizontal (X) axis and number of stretching of rubber band during that time along vertical (Y) axis, a line graph was prepared.

Conclusion : If we stretch a muscle it usually returns to its normal size. But if we continuously stretch it beyond the maximum it can be stretched, the muscle will stay stretched out.

Note : The experiment is temperature-independent. Temperature has impact on muscle fatigue which is not considered here.