So I was learning about the square-cube law on wikipedia,but I didn't get the idea that strength of the muscle is proportional to cross-sectional area of the muscle.It's just...wrong,or so it seems to me.That's because if I cut a cucumber in half,and examine one half's cross section,I see an area.In the case of the muscle it would mean that only the cross sectional area and none of the length following the cross-section matters in the case of strength,which to put it frankly is rather weird to me:it means that whether your biceps are long or short is irrelevant and all that matter is how thick and wide it is.Could somebody explain please?
Muscle cross-section and strength.
- Thread starter RationalityUnleashed
- Start date
Jon Moulton
Registered Senior Member
I'll give a shot at this. I'm not a muscle physiology person.
A chain is as strong as its weakest link. You can make the chain longer or shorter, but the chain will fail when the weakest link breaks.
If you put two chains side-by-side, they can each contribute to resisting tension. This is stronger than a single chain.
Similarly, the length of a muscle fiber can very but the strength of the fiber will depend on the failure tension of the weakest part. Putting two fibers side-by-side increases the tension that will trigger failure.
A chain is as strong as its weakest link. You can make the chain longer or shorter, but the chain will fail when the weakest link breaks.
If you put two chains side-by-side, they can each contribute to resisting tension. This is stronger than a single chain.
Similarly, the length of a muscle fiber can very but the strength of the fiber will depend on the failure tension of the weakest part. Putting two fibers side-by-side increases the tension that will trigger failure.