Pre-lab Quiz Results

You scored 100% by answering 5 out of 5 questions correctly.

1 Skeletal muscles are connected to bones by

You correctly answered: tendons.

2 Skeletal muscles are composed of hundreds to thousands of individual cells

called

You correctly answered: fibers.

3 The term motor unit refers to

You correctly answered: one motor neuron and all of the skeletal muscle
fibers it innervates.

4 The motor neuron and muscle fiber intersect at what is called

You correctly answered: the neuromuscular junction.

5 A twitch is

You correctly answered: one contractile response to a single action potential.

Experiment Results
Predict Question

1 Predict Question: Will changes to the stimulus voltage alter the duration of
the latent period?

Your answer: No, changing the stimulus voltage will not change the latent
period duration.

Stop & Think Questions

1 What is the period of time that elapses between the generation of an action
potential and the start of muscle tension development in a muscle fiber?
 You correctly answered: The latent period.
PEx The Muscle Twitch and the Latent Period
2 What occurs during the latent period of these isometric contractions?
Lab Report
You correctly answered: All the steps of excitation-contraction coupling
occur.

Experiment Data
Voltage (v) Length Active Passive Total Force Latent
(mm) Force Force Period
(msec)
0 75 0 0 0 ----
3 75 1.04 0 1.04 ----
4 75 1.32 0 1.32 2.80
2 75 0.66 0 0.66 2.80
10 75 1.82 0 1.82 3.20

Voltage = 0 V

Prev 1 of 1
Voltage = 3 V

Voltage = 4 V

Voltage = 2 V
 Voltage = 10 V

Post-lab Quiz Results

You scored 83% by answering 5 out of 6 questions correctly.

1 An action potential in a motor neuron triggers the release of which

neurotransmitter?

You correctly answered: acetylcholine.

2 The term skeletal muscle fiber refers to

You correctly answered: an individual skeletal muscle cell.

3 The graded depolarization in the skeletal muscle fiber that is elicited in

response to one action potential from the motor neuron is called

Your answer: an EPSP (excitatory postsynaptic potential).

Correct answer: an EPP (end-plate potential).

4 Which of the following is not a phase of a skeletal muscle twitch?

You correctly answered: hyperpolarization phase.

5 A skeletal muscle twitch is

You correctly answered: one contractile response to a single action potential.

6 Which of the following correctly matches the twitch phase with its definition?

You correctly answered: the contraction phase: the time between the end of
the latent period and peak muscle tension.
Review Sheet Results
1 Define the terms skeletal muscle fiber, motor unit, skeletal muscle twitch,
electrical stimulus, and latent period.

You did not answer this question.

2 What is the role of acetylcholine in a skeletal muscle contraction?

You did not answer this question.

3 Describe the process of excitation-contraction coupling in skeletal muscle

fibers.

You did not answer this question.

4 Describe the three phases of a skeletal muscle twitch.

You did not answer this question.

5 Does the duration of the latent period change with different stimulus
voltages? How well did the results compare with your prediction?

You did not answer this question.

6 At the threshold stimulus, do sodium ions start to move into or out of the
cell to bring about the membrane depolarization?

You did not answer this question.

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