Physics of the Human Body

"Physics of the Human Body" comprehensively addresses the physical and engineering aspects of human physiology by using and building on first-year college physics and mathematics. Topics include the mechanics of the static body and the body in motion, the materials properties of the body, muscles in the body, the energetics of body metabolism, fluid flow in the cardiovascular and respiratory systems, the acoustics of sound waves in speaking and hearing, vision and the optics of the eye, the electrical properties of the body, and the basic engineering principles of feedback and control in regulating all aspects of function. The goal of this text is to understand physical issues concerning the human body, in part by developing and then using simple and subsequently more refined models of the macrophysics of the human body. Many chapters include a brief review of the necessary physical principles. There are problems at the end of each chapter; solutions to selected problems are also provided. This text is geared to undergraduates interested in physics, medical applications of physics, quantitative physiology, medicine, and biomedical engineering.

• Biophysics
• Human body
• Physics
• biomedical engineering
• mechanics
• metabolism
• physiology
• respiration
• statics

From the reviews:

"The text is a welcome alternative approach to introductory physics for premedical students and is an excellent prelude to topics in bioengineering. … The book’s emphasis is on the macrophysics of body physiology, a subject highly relevant to first-year medical students. … In short, Physics of the Human Body contains much to enrich the training of life sciences students and help them appreciate how even basic physics is increasingly important to medicine. … its pedagogical approach makes it a suitable textbook." (Suzanne Amador Kane, Physics Today, March, 2008)

• Department of Applied Physics and Applied Mathematics, Columbia University, New York, USA

  Irving P. Herman

Policies and ethics