Characteristics of Muscle Tissues

Identify which is Excitability, Contractility, Extensibility, or Elasticity

Muscle’s ability to be stretched without tearing

Extensibility

Muscle’s ability to shorten

Contractility

Muscle’s ability to respond to stimuli, such as an action potential from a motor neuron

Excitability

Muscle’s ability to return to its original shape after contracting or relaxing

Elasticity

Example: After doing a split, a gymnast’s muscles return to their original shape

Elasticity

Example: As you lift weights over your head, your tricep muscle shortens

Contractility

Example: Your brain sends a message to your hamstrings to contract. Your hamstrings respond

Excitability

Example: When you are finished lifting weights, your muscles do not stay in that contracted state, but go back to their original shape and size

Elasticity

Example: You stretch before your cross country race and your muscles do not tear

Extensibility

Example; When Luigi Galvani hooked frogs up to electricity their muscles contracted

Excitability

Example: Your intestines do peristalsis, which causes them to shorten as they push food through themselves

Contractility

Example: Every .7 seconds your heart contracts. When it is done contracting, it does back to its resting state

Contractility