BERG > HHMI Project > Bibliography: Physics-Bio Texts

This page is for discussion of Kenneth R. Koehler's text, College Physics for Students of Biology and Chemistry. The entire text is available online here. The text is used with Koehler's three trimester course.

From the Physics/Biophysics Courses page:

"The text provides detailed examples of physics in biological contexts such as compression fractures on impact, torque in skeletomuscular motion, a circuit model of nerve impulse propagation and of the circulatory system, human body heat regulation, electrophoresis, and pulsatile blood flow. The text covers a broad range of physics including mechanics, electromagnetism, thermodynamics, fluids, and some quantum topics. In general the examples in the text seem very detail rich, but lacking an explicit model-building epistemological agenda, and even the derivation of physical laws tends to be thin and mathematically lacking. Meanwhile concepts (with accompanying jargon) are introduced swiftly."

"Labs often make use of data supplied by the instructor (available to the students via applets), sometimes as a supplement or sometimes as the sole data source. Labs include detailed instructions, but are very extensive in studying phenomena. Labs examine rotational and translational motion, circuits, and spectral analysis."