Sample Illustrations of Physical Principles Selected from Physiology and Medicine

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Abstract
The Committee on the Teaching of Physics to Biological and Premedical Students of the American Association of Physics Teachers has adopted as one part of its program the prepn. of appropriate examples and source material which might be used to supplement the conventional elementary course in physics. In the first problem discussed in this paper, the pressure, force, work, power and efficiency are computed for the heart. The beat of the heart and conservation of momentum, with a brief description of the ballistocardiograph, are discussed. As particular examples of muscular mechanics, the force applied by the deltoid muscle in raising the arm ([image]300 lbs.) and the force on the 5th lumbar vertebra of a 180-lb. man in raising his trunk ([image]500 lbs.) are computed. When an extra 50-lb. load is hung from his arms this latter force is increased to about 850 lbs. Finally, as an illustration in kinematics, the motion of the trochanter, knee and ankle during normal walking are described.

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