The lactic acid diffuses out of the muscles and is taken to the liver by the blood. The liver can change lactic acid back into glucose: however, this conversion also requires the use of ATP. During strenuous exercise, primarily the muscles and not the liver use the oxygen, so the lactic acid accumulates.
/quenchÂ·ing/ (kwenchÂ´ing) 1. suppressing or diminishing a physical property, as of heat in a metal by immersion in cold liquid. 2. decrease of fluorescence from an excited molecule by other molecules that absorb some emission energy that would otherwise occur as light.
Quenching is a rapid way of bringing a metal back to room temperature after heat treatment (such as annealing, normalizing or stress relieving) to prevent the cooling process from dramatically changing the metal's microstructure. 1  Quenching results in the hardening of steel at the same temperature that full annealing does. Special purpose polymers, forced air convection, fresh water, salt water and oil can all be used to carry out the quenching process. Water is an effective medium when the goal is to have steel to reach maximum hardness.