PHYSICS IN LIFE SCIENCES

GEK1521/PC1326

Lecturer Wang Haifeng Office: S13-M-01 Tel: 6516 6977 Email: phywh@nus.edu.sg

Teaching Assistant Tan Meng Ho Office: S13-02-09 Tel: 6516 2988 Email: phytmho@nus.edu.sg

About this module

This is an introductory course to the basics of physics and life science for non-physics students. The main theme: to bridge the knowledge of physics with real life phenomena.
How do the laws of physics determine the way of life on Earth? How do living creatures use the principle of physics for their survival?

Big definitions
Physics: The scientific study of matter, energy, space, and time, and of the relations between them. Life science: Any of several branches of science, such as biology, medicine, anthropology, or ecology, that deal with phenomena regarding living organisms.

PHYSICS in LIFE SCIENCES SCHEDULE - subject to change Lectures: Every Monday and Thursday, 10 am-12 pm except public holidays. Detailed lecture schedule is in the module description on IVLE.

Important dates:
Term test 1: 9/30 Monday. Term test 2: 11/11 Monday. Term paper due date: 11/22 (Friday 6 pm).

E-learning week
September 9 13, the 5th week. E-learning videos will be uploaded to the multimedia folder on IVLE. If you need to use a PC to access course materials but have no laptop, you can come to S13-04-16 (CSD lab 1). The room has a capacity of 70 people.

In lectures
There will be a 5-minute break in the middle of class.

Please raise your hand if you have a question.

Textbook
Conceptual Integrated Science: International Edition, 2nd edition. Paul G. Hewitt Suzanne A Lyons John A. Suchocki Jennifer Yeh ISBN: 9780321873989 Publisher: Pearson
It provides pre-class reading material and questions for practice. But the module is still lecture-notes based.

Lecture notes
Lecture notes (ppt files) have been uploaded to IVLE workbin. The notes may still be modified before the actual lecture. Many topics in the lecture notes are related to a textbook chapter. But the lecture notes are usually deeper. Some topics in the lecture notes are outside the textbook.

What will be covered?

Basics of physics: units, scalar, vector, description of motion. Force and Newton's laws, gravitational force and electric force. Work and energy, planetary and satellite motion. Elements, atoms, shell structure of electrons. Chemical bonding, compounds & carbon & water, organic molecules. Properties of life. The cell structure, photosynthesis and respiration. Life and energy conservation, life and the law of entropy. Stress and strain, pressure of fluids. Silk, collagen, bone and teeth. The special water, buoyant force, surface tension, capillary. Inertial force & gravity & weight, gravitational biology. Wave, diffraction, interference, refraction. Resonance and hearing. Electric field and potential, electric current and resistance. Bioelectricity, electrolocation. Magnets and magnetic field, magnetic force on charges and currents. Biomagnetism, earth's magnetic shield. Nature of light, EM spectrum. Vision, color sense. Origin of color, structural color, greenhouse effect.

The key concepts (concepts to be tested) are listed in the beginning of each lecture and summarized in a word file in IVLE lecture notes folder.

Term tests will be based on and limited to the key concepts. The key concepts are all based on the lecture notes. You can find the list of all key concepts in the lecture notes folder on IVLE.

Online resources
We have an IVLE website. Using forum for questions and discussion is recommended.

PHYSICS in LIFE SCIENCES Assessment Scheme Term test 1 = 30% Term test 2 = 30% Term paper = 35% Tutorial attendance = 5%

Tutorial Registration
There are a total of 20 sessions bi-weekly. The online balloting follows iteration 2: 8/16-8/20. Manual registration: If the online balloting doesnt give you an acceptable result, please contact our TA Mr. Tan for manual registration. Tutorial venue: seminar room S13-04-14 CSD Lab 2.

Tutorial will start from the third week.

Term test 1
Date: 30th September (Monday) Time: 10-11:30am Venue: MPSH1A Scope: from the beginning to silk (inclusive) Format: 30 multiple-choice questions (negative marking scheme) CLOSED book. No help sheet.

Term test 2
Date: 11st November (Monday) Time: 10-11:30am Venue: TBA Scope: the special water the end (inclusive) Format: 30 multiple-choice questions (negative marking scheme) CLOSED book. No help sheet.

The term paper (35 points)

Write a 4~7 page article (not including front page or references) on a physical principle or law, and use it to analyze one or more related phenomena in life science or our daily life. The term paper guidelines and two example papers are in the Assignments folder on IVLE. Read the guidelines carefully, determine a topic that you feel interested in, and adhere to the format requirements.

The term paper (contd.)

What can you write about?
You can use one of the fixed topics provided in the term paper guidelines. You can also write a free topic article. In that case, you can use any physical principles or laws to analyze any life science or daily life phenomena that you feel interested in.

The term paper (contd.)

Rules:
No groups. Everyone writes your own article. Avoid direct copying from websites. Try to understand the topic and use your own words. Plagiarism will be punished. Using figures is encouraged. Standard of marks:
Understanding of the topic (depth and width): 10 Logic, organization and clarity: 10 Writing (language, grammar): 5 Format (paper length, font and page setting, equations and figures, reference, footnotes): 5 Originality: 5

What are originality points?

They exist to encourage you to actually use the knowledge learned from class. There are two ways to earn originality points:
You use the knowledge taught in class to analyze daily life phenomena not introduced in class, Your analysis takes a different approach from what was taught in class. Originality points apply to both fixed topics and free topics. How many points you get depends on how good your analysis is. Most students got 1~2 points in the past. NO originality points will be awarded for analysis with physical principles outside the class.

Term Paper Submission

Submit a softcopy to the student submission folder on IVLE. Deadline: 6 pm, 22nd November, the Friday of the reading week. Submission after deadline will not be considered.

Plagiarism check at the uploading screen

Your file should have no more than 10% matching text.

Questions I wont answer

I plan to write my paper this way. Is it good? I have written a paragraph. Would you point out any mistakes? Reason: Its an independent work. To be fair, I will not help any student in the preparation and writing of the paper.

Questions I can answer

If you are not sure whether your topic is suitable for the term paper, I can suggest on that. Regarding how to choose a topic, please read the term paper guidelines carefully. Again, my answer will be limited to the suitability of the topic. I will not suggest anything on the details of content.

End of introduction
Next: Basics of physics: units. Related textbook chapter: Appendix A. Warning: the next few lectures can be quite intense because they cover lots of basic physics.