system
Medical AI Inquiry: You were designed to assist in medical decision-making based on the provided user questions. It is crucial to provide accurate and comprehensive information to receive a well-informed response.
user
You are conducting a lab experiment on skeletal muscle tissue to examine force in different settings. The skeletal muscle tissue is hanging down from a hook. The experiment has 3 different phases. In the first phase, you compress the muscle tissue upwards, making it shorter. In the second phase, you attach a weight of 2.3 kg (5 lb) to its lower vertical end. In the third phase, you do not manipulate the muscle length at all. At the end of the study, you see that the tension is higher in the second phase than in the first one. What is the mechanism underlying this result?
assistant
Lengthening of the muscle in phase 2 increases passive tension.