457
No rush, honey (lemmy.world)
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[-] BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.today 18 points 2 days ago

Never made the connection, but when I was in human anatomy class, we removed the thigh muscle from a frog, hooked it up to a seismograph, and shocked it, to track the spasm.

As the shocks went on, it would eventually cramp up. Putting saline solution (salt water) on it, would release the cramp, and you could do the experiment again.

That's a direct example of salt making a muscle relax. I never thought to connect it to marinating meat.

[-] RagingRobot@lemmy.world 7 points 2 days ago

I bet you could make a sick marinated frog leg

[-] FiniteBanjo@feddit.online 6 points 2 days ago

Frog leg is soft like fried chicken, doesn't really require it.

[-] qarbone@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago

I marinate for flavor, not for soft meat.

[-] FiniteBanjo@feddit.online 1 points 1 day ago

This is the way

[-] DarrinBrunner@lemmy.world 1 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

would release the cramp, and you could do the experiment again.

How many times did you need to do this to get the point? I feel like seeing it once, gathered around the teacher, would be plenty.

Also, a seismograph?

[-] BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.today 3 points 2 days ago

Yep, a seismograph. Mine was a vertical version, but yeah, the same thing. You suspended the muscle, with a pen attached somehow (I don't remember, it was decades ago), and when you shocked it, the muscle would spasm, and write on the rolling paper. As the spasms increased, the markings would be smaller, until it seized up, and drew a straight line. Then you'd douse the muscle with saline, and you could do it again, although the results were less dramatic on subsequent runs. It seemed like the muscle would eventually just fatigue, and not be as revivable by saline. So we only had to repeat it a few times.

And it wasn't just one experiment, being done by the teacher in front of everybody. We all had our own seismographs, and had to kill and dissect our own frogs. It was a real hand-on class, and was one of the best high school classes I've ever taken. It was a college level pre-med class, and I've used the info I learned in that class every day throughout my entire life.

this post was submitted on 29 Jan 2026
457 points (92.9% liked)

Funny

13370 readers
883 users here now

General rules:

Exceptions may be made at the discretion of the mods.

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS