Muscle: dynamics of contraction

Episode of Series “Biology program. Unit 4. Physiology”. The many hundreds of muscles in the human body differ greatly with respect to the speeds at which they shorten. They can be divided into three major categories: smooth, cardiac and skeletal. In this film these three types are defined, and elaborate apparatus is used to reveal that the contractile properties of a whole muscle can be explained in terms of the properties of the single muscle cell.