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LAB
How Does Fatigue Affect Muscle Performance?

Problem
A condition known as muscle fatigue occurs when certain waste products of
muscle activity (lactic acid) build up in the cells. Until these waste chemicals
are removed, the fatigue will continue.

Do the Following Activity:

Hold a spring-type clothespin between your thumb and index finger. Pinch the
ends together completely (until the two ends touch) and release them. Do this
as rapidly as possible for one minute. Record the number of times you could
squeeze the clothespin:

Hypothesis: Make a prediction of how many squeezes youll be able to do.

If i squeeze a clothespin i think i can squeeze it 35 times.
In this experiment, I predict that I will be able to squeeze the clothespin
__35__ times in one minute. I made this prediction because __i think that i can
not squeeze it so fast.___

Independent variable: Gender,boys vs girls results.

Dependant variable: We measure how many times we can squeeze a clothespin.
Data/Results:

Trial # # of Squeezes in 1 minute

1 131
2 165
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3 189
4 225
Average 177.5

Conclusion: (Analyze your data and summarize your findings. Sate how the
results relate to the hypothesis.)

Boys (averages) Girls (averages)

140.03 155.3

Reflection Questions:

1. Could you do as many in a minute the fourth time as you could do

the first time? Provide a biological explanation for these results.

In this lab we tested if girls or boys had better strength in finger muscles.
Also we tested who had better strength.

2. What does an increased pulse rate indicate about the heart rate
and flow of blood in someones body?
It increases as the pulse rate _____gets
faster_______
It decreases as the pulse rate ____slows
down_______
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3. If you want to increase your clothespin-squeezing rate, would you

suggest exercising or resting before you did it? Explain why you think
your choice is correct.
I think resting before we did this would help us because we could do more
squeezes in a minute. I think this because we would be able to do it faster.

4. What do you think would happen to the number of squeezes if you

were asked to do a 5th trial for clothespin squeezing?

It would increase by like 50 or 30.

5. What effect did muscle fatigue have on the action of your hand
muscles?

It made my hand muscle sore for a few minutes. Also it made my fingers hot
because i moved them a lot in this activity. Also my hand muscles felt like they
were about to explode because we had very short breaks in the activity.
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