Sally is doing toe-presses on a leg press machine (knees are locked out and legs are parallel to the floor, ankle is plantar flexed to 35 degrees (zero is the anatomical position). The footplate is providing a resistive force parallel to the floor of 185 lb on the ball of the foot that is 6.5 inches from the ankle joint (measured along the foot). The triceps surae is pulling on the calcaneus parallel to the tibia inserted 1.75 inches from joint axis.
1. What is the plantarflexion torque the muscles must produce to balance the torque caused by the weight plate?
2. If the triceps surae is the only muscle group active, how much force must they produce to create this torque?