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Fig. 4 | BMC Biomedical Engineering

Fig. 4

From: The problem with skeletal muscle series elasticity

Fig. 4

Elasticity. Force as a function of elongation in a perfectly elastic material (a) and in a visco-elastic material (b). For the elastic material, force (elongation) is uniquely given by the elongation (force), and the loading and unloading curves overlap, while the force (elongation) curve of the viscoelastic material depends on the rate of stretching/shortening and/or the rate of force application/decay. In contrast to the elastic material, where the loading and unloading energies are the same, in a visco-elastic material some of the energy supplied during stretching is dissipated, thus the energy during the unloading phase is smaller than that obtained in the loading phase, resulting in a characteristic hysteresis, as shown in (b)

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