5.5 Parallel-fibered and pennate muscles

This problem was contributed by Hannah O'Day at Stanford University.

Consider two muscles of equal volume, one of which is parallel-fibered and the other is pennate:


Parallel-fibered muscle	Pennate muscle

For each of the following quantities in a typical Hill-type muscle model, which of the two muscles would have a greater value and why?

(a) Number of sarcomeres in series

(b) Optimal fiber length (in cm)

(c) Maximum isometric force (in N)

(d) Width of force–length curve (in cm)

(e) Maximum shortening velocity (in cm/s)

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