6 exam-style questions with full mark schemes and model answers. Write your own answer and the AI examiner marks it against the mark scheme.
Learn this properly: First, Second and Third Class LeversA footballer, Noor, takes a penalty by rapidly straightening (extending) her leg at the knee to strike the ball.
Analyse the lever system operating at Noor's knee during the kick. In your answer, identify the class of lever, name the fulcrum, effort and load, and explain how the mechanical advantage of this lever helps her kick the ball fast. (6 marks)
A gymnast performs two skills: first a forward somersault, then a flat spin (a full turn about the long axis of the body while upright).
(a) Name the plane and the axis about which the forward somersault takes place. (2 marks)
(b) Name the plane and the axis about which the upright flat spin takes place. (2 marks)
Muscles often work in antagonistic pairs to move a joint. A performer completes the upward (lifting) phase of a dumbbell bicep curl, flexing the arm at the elbow.
(a) Name the muscle acting as the agonist (prime mover) and the muscle acting as the antagonist during the upward phase of the curl. (2 marks)
(b) State what is meant by an antagonistic muscle pair. (1 mark)
Lever systems in the body have different functional advantages.
(a) A second class lever operates at the ankle when a sprinter rises onto the balls of her feet to drive out of the blocks. State the main functional advantage of a second class lever, and explain why this suits the push-off. (2 marks)
(b) State the order of the three components (fulcrum, load, effort) in a second class lever, starting from the fulcrum. (1 mark)
A performer raises both arms sideways away from the body (abduction at the shoulder) during a star jump.
Describe which plane and which axis this sideways arm movement occurs in, and give the type of movement (e.g. flexion, abduction) that characterises that plane. (2 marks)
In any lever system, one component acts as the pivot point about which the lever turns. In the human body this component is always a joint.
Name this component of a lever system — the fixed pivot point about which the lever rotates. (1 mark)