Zoom in on the muscles in our body.
Narrator: So you're going to put muscles on this skeleton are you?
Great. What are those floppy things?
Woman: Muscles!
Narrator: Muscles! Really? They don't look much use.
They don't even stay on…
Oh you need those tendon things to fix them on.
Alright well yes it's on, but what does it do?
Oh wow! That's very clever.
It just pulls itself tight and then the arm goes up …
And when it relaxes the arm goes back down.
Brilliant! How many more do you have to put on?
Six hundred and thirty eight??
Blimey
Muscles
Muscles are attached to bones by tendons and help them to move.
When a muscle contracts (bunches up), it gets shorter and so pulls on the bone it is attached to. When a muscle relaxes, it goes back to its normal size.
Muscles can only pull and cannot push. Therefore muscles have to work in pairs to move a joint. One muscle will contract and pull a joint one way and another muscle will contract and pull it the other.
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