Vacuum Muscle Demo Equipment
String Ligament Demo Equipment

Code Number: 11A10.40

Demo Title: Muscles

Condition: Good

Principle: Physiology

Area of Study: Physiology, Biology

Equipment: 

Vacuum Muscle Demo and String Ligament Demo.

Procedure: 

Make sure the hoses on the vacuum muscle are connected tightly.  As you pull out on the hand held chamber, the muscle should contract raising the hand.

Connect the motors to a 6 V. battery.  One motor runs the upper arm and the other runs the hand muscle.  Running the motor so the string winds and becomes shorter will raise the desired part of the demo.

References:

  • Dan Liu, Matthew Tyler Burk, Jeewoo Kim, "Interactive Simulations of Upper Arms", TPT, Vol. 63, #5, May 2025, p. 336. 
  • Dan Liu, Zhuojun Duan, "Simulations of Back and Arms", TPT, Vol. 59, #7, Oct. 2021, p. 544.
  • David Miles Headly and Howard Willard, "Student Bench Press Power – A STEM Project for the Gym", TPT, Vol. 57, #7, Oct. 2019, p. 450.
  • Nancy Donaldson, "Increasing Your Body of Physics Knowledge", TPT, Vol. 54, #1, Jan. 2016, p. 58.
  • Mickey Kutzner and Andrew Kutzner, "A Progression of Static Equilibrium Laboratory Exercises", TPT, Vol. 51, #7, Oct. 2013, p. 430.
  • Stacy S. Klein and Robert J. Roselli, "Finding the Center of Volume of the Forearm", TPT, Vol. 46, #4, Apr. 2008, p. 232.
  • Vasilis Pagonis, Russel Drake, Michael Morgan, Todd Peters, Chris Riddle, and Karen Rollins, "Modeling Forces on the Human Body", TPT, Vol. 37, #8, Nov. 1999, p. 469.
  • Martin Gardner, "Magnetized Pencils", TPT, Vol. 32, #4, April 1994, p. 237.
  • H. Richard Crane, "How Things Work: The Noises Your Muscles Make", TPT, Vol. 27, #9, Dec. 1989, p. 687.
  • Donald E. Shult, "Pulling Your Cups Apart!", TPT, Vol. 26, #7, Oct. 1988, p. 424.
  • Ronald D. Edge, "The Author Replies", TPT, Vol. 21, #5, May 1983, p. 280.
  • Otto Ögrim, "Bootstrap Physics", TPT, Vol. 21, #5, May 1983, p. 280.
  • Alan Van Heuvelen, "Inexpensive Body-Lever Models", TPT, Vol. 21, #3, Mar. 1983, p. 186.
  • Ronald D. Edge, "Physics and the New Games or Pretend You're an Atom", TPT, Vol. 20, #9, Dec. 1982, p. 596.
  • Kameshwar Razden, "Body Levers", TPT, Vol. 16, #6, Sept. 1978, p. 403.
  • Frank A. Smith, Jr., "Biomechanics Using a Crane Boom", TPT, Vol. 16, #4, Apr. 1978, p. 220.
  • Melanie Cluss, Kenneth Laws, Natalie Martin, T. Scott Nowicki, and Allan Mira, "The Indirect Measurement of Biomechanical Forces in the Moving Human Body", AJP, Vol. 74, #2, Feb. 2006, p. 102.
  • Johanna Miller, "A Muscle's Mechanical Advantage is Not Constant", Physics Today, Vol. 61, #4, Apr. 2008, p. 21.
  • Phillip F. Schewe, "Listening to Muscle Noise", Physics Today, Vol 60, #7, July 2007, p. 29.
  • Paul Guinnessy, "DARPA Joins Industry, Academia to Build Better Prosthetic Arms", Physics Today, Vol. 59, #9, Sept. 2006, p. 24.
  • Olof Lippild, "Physiological Tremor", Scientific American, Vol. 224, #3, Mar. 1971, p. 65.
  • Theodore Gray, "Bacon: the Other White Heat", Popular Science, Vol. 281, #5, May 2009, p. 70.
  • Stuart Fox, "Lock and Roll", Popular Science, 280, #10, Oct. 2008, p. 41.
  • Don Rathjen and Paul Doherty, "Hydraulic Arm", Square Wheels, 2002, p. 29 - 33.
  • Vicki Cobb and Kathy Darling, "Shaky Odds", Bet You Can't!, p. 108 - 109.
  • Neil Downie, "35: Balloon Biceps", Ink Sandwiches, Electric Worms and 37 Other Experiments of Saturday Science, p. 287 - 291.
  • Neil A. Downie, "Vacuum Muscles", Vacuum Bazookas, Electric Rainbow Jelly and Other Saturday Science Projects, p. 61 - 69.
  • Neil A. Downie, "Twisted Sinews", Vacuum Bazookas, Electric Rainbow Jelly and Other Saturday Science Projects, p. 51 - 58.
  • Harvard Instructional Physics Labs, "Muscles and Bones - Forces and Torques in the Body",
  • Curt Suplee, "Putting Flex in Your Step", Everyday Science Explained, National Geographic, p. 226 - 227.
  • Curt Suplee, "Nerves and Muscles", Everyday Science Explained, National Geographic, p. 224 - 225.
  • Curt Suplee, "Getting Going", Everyday Science Explained, National Geographic, p. 182 - 183.
  • "Sense and Non-Sense with Your Five Senses", Science Experimenter Magazine, p. 60 - 62.
  • Robert J. Brown, "Chapter 5: Biology and Psychology", 333 Science Tricks and Experiments, p. 47 - 48.
  • Sara Stein, "A Slow Circuit", The Science Book, p. 256.
Harvard Natural Sciences Lecture Demonstrations Erector Spinae Muscle Forces