Imagine that you are a biceps muscle. Thinking about what you have learned in this lesson, what forms of energy are displayed when the arm you are in does curls — moves the forearm from a horizontal position up until it is nearly vertical and then down again to horizontal? For the last row, choose your own motion/exercise and determine what energy conversion is happening.

Question

Imagine that you are a biceps muscle. Thinking about what you have learned in this lesson, what forms of energy are displayed when the arm you are in does curls — moves the forearm from a horizontal position up until it is nearly vertical and then down again to horizontal? For the last row, choose your own motion/exercise and determine what energy conversion is happening.

What factors will affect your reps, and how? You may have to do some research on how muscles work. Share your ideas with your learning coach.

Potential Energy OR Kinetic Energy?

Potential Energy OR Kinetic Energy?
Arm moving horizontal to vertical.

Converted into

Arm moving vertical to horizontal.

Converted into

Replace with your own motion/exercise

Converted into

Answer 1

Potential Energy

Kinetic Energy

The potential energy in the biceps muscle is displayed when the arm is in a horizontal position, as the muscle is lengthened and storing energy. As the arm moves from horizontal to vertical, this potential energy is transformed into kinetic energy. When the arm moves back down from vertical to horizontal, the kinetic energy is converted back into potential energy.

In the case of the arm moving from horizontal to vertical, the energy conversion is from potential energy to kinetic energy. The potential energy is stored in the stretched biceps muscle, and as the muscle contracts and shortens, this potential energy is converted into kinetic energy to move the arm.

For the arm moving from vertical to horizontal, the energy conversion is from kinetic energy to potential energy. As the biceps muscle relaxes and elongates, the kinetic energy of the moving arm is gradually converted back into potential energy, ready to be used again.

For my own motion/exercise, let's consider a squat. During a squat, the potential energy in the quadriceps muscles is displayed when the knees are bent and the muscles are being stretched. As the person stands back up, this potential energy is transformed into kinetic energy to raise the body. The energy conversion would be from potential energy to kinetic energy.