Is it true that the language is the strongest muscle of the human body?

In many places you can read that this small and very important organ for us is more powerful than any muscle. We checked if it was true.

The idea of ​​the language as the strongest muscle is spread by many resources, among which "Arguments and Facts", "News", pedagogical community "Lesson.rf", Faktoved.ru, "100 facts"as well as some publications ("Reading for mind and entertainment", "500 scientific facts that will surprise you"). About this reports Expert of the Elena Malysheva program "Live great!" And Writes Laureate of the Nobel Prize in Literature Olga Tokarchuk in his novel "Running".

Firstly, the approval under consideration is incorrect at least by the fact that language is not one muscle, but immediately some. Unlike other muscles, such as biceps, the muscles of the tongue do not develop around the supporting bone. They are intertwined, creating a flexible matrix.

Four muscles in this system attach the tongue to structures in the head and neck. One muscle holds onto the base of the skull, the other connects to the bone in the throat, there is a muscle that captures the lower jaw, and the other is wrapped around the palate. All of them move the tongue from side to side, up and down. The remaining muscles make up the "body" of the tongue. It is they who give him the ability to take various forms, allow him to lengthen, shorten, twist and round, helping us speak and swallow. Since the language consists exclusively of muscles, and not of bones, it is very elastic, has a huge range of movements and forms, while maintaining its volume.

Next, you need to understand what is “the most powerful” regarding the muscles. From a scientific point of view, there can be no unambiguous understanding.

The skeletal muscle consists of many muscle fibers, which have points of attachment to bones and located parallel to each other. Each muscle fiber is built of small substructures called sarcomers. Sarkomer is a functional unit of contractiles of the skeletal muscle. A larger amount of muscle tissue means a larger number of sarcomers, which means maximum development of strength. Therefore, if we talk about gross physical strength, then the strongest will be the most voluminous muscle. In the case of a person, this The four -headed muscle of the thigh on the front surface of the thigh and Large gluteal muscle - On the back.

But not a rough power of one. As is known from physics, due to the principle lever You can take an action that, with a direct application, would require much more power. Such levers in our body are bones that convert muscle contractions into more sweeping movements. For example, our biceps pulls the bones of the forearm to raise the dumbbell. Since our forearm is long and biceps pulls it directly to the elbow, says Halil Seasarus From the University of Southern California, a lot of power is required to move our brush up to the shoulder. Our jaw bone, on the contrary, is a much shorter lever. That's why chewing - The main muscle of our jaw also acts as a contender for the role of the strongest in the human body.

If we talk about endurance, then in this, as the magazine notes Scientific American, there are no equal to our heart. 24 hours a day, seven days a week, this most important muscle pumps blood in a circle, supplying the rest of the muscles with it.

As for the language, to measure the force of its pressure, scientists Use A special tool in the form of a cone filled with air. During such a procedure, the subject needs to hold the subject in one position in the mouth, pressing it with the tongue to the palate. Row experiments With such a device, he showed that the language even in the form of a muscle group is not the strongest.

Thus, there is no unambiguous concept of “the strongest muscle of the human body”, but the language cannot be called in any context.

Not true

What do our verdicts mean?

Read on the topic:

1. Fact or Fiction?: The Tongue Is the Strongest Muscle in the Body
2. Is it true that the language is the strongest muscle of the body
3. What is the Strongest Muscle in the Human Body?