Introduction and outline
The aim of this virtual and wet practical series is to demonstrate the ways in which the force developed by a skeletal muscle can be varied.
As noted in the above video, you will study the physiological properties of skeletal muscle using a simulation of the properties seen with the cane toad's gastrocnemius muscle, the skeletal muscle that is similarly placed as our calf muscle.
In this virtual lab you can work your way through a series of experiments using an interactive simulation which mimics the conditions that would be used in a "wet practical class" where you were actually carrying out the experiment on the real life leg. We have provided videos so you can see what the latter might look like, if you were conducting those "wet practical class" experiments instead of the virtual experiments you will do here.
Before we jump into the experiments, lets first look at how the "wet class" experiments are set up to allow you to collect such data.