Main description:

This book is written to help and enable students in how to observe biological specimens in terms of viscosity, mass, elasticity and work producing elements. The observations are related to underlying chemical reactions by means of strain (fractional length change) sensitivity of the reactions, and a theory is developed how to connect these. Their mathematical derivation is complex when three or more states are involved, but a method is presented here to demonstrate how to simplify this complex problem. Basic mathematical solutions that are useful for this book, are presented (Fourier and Laplace transforms, differential equations, matrix operations) together with Fortran programs in the Appendix.

Contents:

Basic elements of viscoelasticity.- Reaction processes (chemical kinetics) and their application to muscle biology.- How to characterize chemical reactions occurring in muscle fibers?.- Structure and function of muscle cells.- Mathematics needed to solve problems of contraction.- Computer interfacing of experimental apparatus.- Appendices.