The Physics of the Human Body.

摘要

Every fall, tens of thousands of college juniors interestedrnin medical school begin a two-semester long physics course.rnMany don’t want to be there. Two semesters of physics arernrequired by medical schools and are covered on the MCAT,rnso the physics course is a box that needs to be checked off.rnStudents typically don’t see the relevance of physics to thernpractice of medicine and are primarily interested in just gettingrnthrough the class with a decent grade. They don’t carernabout derivations, but just want to know the formulas andrnhow to use them. On the other side of the lectern, the professorrngenerally knows less biology than the students and doesrnnot have the expertise to go into depth on biological applications.rnShe is more interested in teaching the basic conceptsrnof physics, including derivations of the basic formulae,rnwhere she does have expertise, and then doesn’t have timernfor detailed study of biological applications. This gaprnbetween the expectations of the students and the professorrncan make pre-med physics courses unpopular.