Open AccessThe dynamic constants of human muscle
Author(s) -
A. V. Hill
Publication year - 1940
Publication title -
proceedings of the royal society of london. series b, biological sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2053-9193
pISSN - 0080-4649
DOI - 10.1098/rspb.1940.0010
Subject(s) - isometric exercise , constant (computer programming) , work (physics) , anatomy , tension (geology) , chemistry , physics , mathematics , thermodynamics , biology , computer science , compression (physics) , physiology , programming language
In a recent paper (Hill 1938) the shortening of an isolated muscle against a constant force was shown to obey the characteristic equation (P + a) (v + b ) = a constant = (P 0 +a )b , WhereP is force, v is velocity of shortening,P 0 is the full isometric tension anda andb are constants. In frog’s musclea /P 0 was found to be about 4, and b (at 0°C) about one-third of the muscle length per second with a temperature coefficient of about 2 Per 10° C. The theory was applied (Hill 1936b ) in a study of the mechanical efficiency (work/total energy) of frog’s muscle shortening at various speeds.