muscles Flashcards
What are muscles?
Muscles are groups of specialised tissue that can respond to nervous stimulation by contracting, meaning the muscle shortens and thickens.
What type of material is muscle tissue?
Muscle tissue is elastic so it can be stretched if a weight is applied to it, but will return back to its regular position once the weight has been removed.
What is the ability to move form place to place called?
Locomotion
What is locomotion due to in most animals?
The muscles, however muscles alone aren’t sufficient for movement so they are connected to the skeleton by a tendon on the end of each muscle.
What is the structure of tendons like?
Tendons are very tough and don’t stretch when pulled.
What type of movement can muscles complete?
Muscles can only contract and relax, they can’t lengthen, as this could cause many issues in the body they are arranged in pairs to avoid any issues that could have arisen from this.
What are paired muscles called?
Antagonistic pairing and it means the muscles can work together. Such as one muscle could stretch a limb whilst the other bends a limb.
What is a muscle that bends and a muscle that straightens called?
Muscles that bend are called a flexor and muscles that straighten are called extensors.
What are the three main functions muscles form through contraction?
The antigravity function, motion movements and heat production.
What is the antigravity function?
Antigravity function is the way muscles are consistently in a state of partial contraction to allow the body to stay upright when walking etc.
What is motion movement?
Motion movement is the movements such as walking, running and writing which involve an integrated function of both the skeleton and muscles
What is heat production?
This is that when the muscles move heat is produced which is necessary for maintaining the bodies overall temperature.
What are the three main types of muscle?
Cardiac, skeletal and viceral.
What is skeletal muscle?
This is the tissues attached to the bone and they possess a striped or striated appearance.
These muscles are under voluntary control.
What does striated mean?
Striated means muscle marked with light and dark transverse bands .