Zoological Physics

Quantitative Models of Body Design, Actions, and Physical Limitations of Animals

By: Boye K. Ahlborn

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Hardcover | 7 July 2006 | Edition Number 2

At a Glance

Hardcover
456 Pages

Edition Type
Revised

Dimensions(cm)
23.5 x 15.88 x 2.54

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$259.01

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This book presents a physicists view of life. The primary life functions of animals, such as eating, growing, reproducing and getting around all depend on motion: Motion of materials through the body, motion of limbs and motion of the entire body through water, air and on land. These activities are driven by internal information stored in the genes or in the brain and by external information transmitted by the senses. This book models these life functions with the tools of physics. It will appeal to all scientists, from the undergraduate level upwards, who are interested in the role played by physics in the animal kingdom.

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You Can Find This Book In

Non-Fiction Science Physics Applied Physics Biophysics Biology, Life Sciences Life Sciences in General Zoology & Animal Sciences Animal Physiology Medicine Pre-Clinical Medicine & Basic Sciences Engineering & Technology

Technology in General Engineering in General Nursing & Ancillary Services Biomedical Engineering

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Paperback

Published: 13th October 2010

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Life: Information, Matter, and Energy	p. 1
Physics and Life	p. 1
The Hourglass of Change	p. 5
Differences and Chemistry Make Things Happen	p. 5
Life and Entropy	p. 8
Energy, Metabolic Rate, and Allometry	p. 10
Empirical Determination of Metabolic Rates	p. 10
Allometry	p. 13
The Benefits of Large Bodies	p. 15
Zoological Physics Modeling	p. 17
Where Zoological Physics Fits in	p. 18
The Warp and Weft of Zoological Physics	p. 19
Strength and Limits of Physical Models	p. 20
Problems and Hints for Solutions	p. 22
Energy and Temperature	p. 25
Parameters of the Energy Chain	p. 26
Temperature	p. 27
Forms of Energy and Power	p. 28
How Animals Do Work and Generate Mechanical Energy	p. 29
Internal Energy, and Heat	p. 30
The Conservation of Energy	p. 33
The First Law of Thermodynamics	p. 34
Energy Analysis	p. 35
Compound Efficiency of the Energy Conversion Chain	p. 36
Optimum Rates	p. 39
Thermal Problems of Warm Blooded Animals	p. 40
Temperature Control and Heat Fluxes	p. 40
Heat Losses by Conduction	p. 42
Surface Heat Transfer	p. 45
Convection	p. 46
How to Live with Permanently Cold Feet	p. 47
Radiation	p. 48
Phase Changes and Evaporation Cooling	p. 50
Managing the Flow of Heat	p. 51
How Thermodynamics Sets Limits for Life	p. 52
A Place Called Home	p. 53
Why Bigger is Better in a Cold Ocean	p. 55
Why Birds Can't Be Smaller Than Bees	p. 58
Water, the Magic Stuff	p. 59
Other Physical Quantities	p. 61
Problems and Hints for Solutions	p. 63
Form and Forces	p. 67
How to Deal with Forces	p. 68
Forces in Static Equilibrium	p. 68
Compression and Tension	p. 69
The Free Body Diagram	p. 70
Muscles and Tendons	p. 71
Muscle Force	p. 71
A Simple Model of the Muscle	p. 73
The Muscle Cross Bridge Cycle	p. 74
Muscle Efficiency	p. 76
Cold and Warm Muscles	p. 77
Muscle Connections	p. 78
Static Forces That Animals May Encounter	p. 78
Pressure	p. 79
Buoyancy	p. 81
Elastic Forces	p. 82
Electrostatic Force	p. 84
Capillary Forces, a Form of Surface Tension	p. 85
The Maximum Size of Water Striders	p. 87
Friction	p. 87
Dynamic Forces	p. 88
Bernoulli Force	p. 89
Centrifugal Force	p. 90
Drag	p. 90
The Minimum Compound Drag	p. 93
Ventilation Drag	p. 95
Lift Force	p. 96
Magnus Effect	p. 97
Jet Thrust Force	p. 97
Simple Body Forms from Skin Bags to Bones	p. 97
Animals Without Bones--Giant Caterpillars?	p. 98
Elephant Trunks and Octopus Arms	p. 100
The Spiral Structure of Filaments in Nematodes	p. 101
Hard Shell Critters	p. 101
The Invention of Bones	p. 102
Large Structures with Bones	p. 103
Chewing: Pressure Amplification and Lethal Bananas	p. 103
Triangular Elements in Large Structures	p. 105
Vertebrae Construction, Bridges with Cable Support	p. 105
Elastic Elements as Support Structures	p. 106
The Secrete of Posture	p. 107
Impediment by Gravitation on Other Planets	p. 109
Scaling Up	p. 109
Geometric Scaling	p. 110
Weakest Link Scaling	p. 110
Maximum Tension Scaling	p. 112
Elastic Similarity Scaling	p. 113
Strong Materials in Biology	p. 113
Surface Energy [gamma] and Breaking Strength	p. 114
The Strength of Real Materials	p. 115
Why Are Spider Silk and Kevlar so Strong?	p. 117
The Optimum Stretch of Spider Silk	p. 118
The Dragline as Safety Line	p. 120
Problems and Hints for Solutions	p. 122
Fluids in the Body	p. 127
Motion in Concentration Gradients	p. 128
Diffusion	p. 128
Osmosis	p. 130
The Size of Body Cells	p. 130
Convection and Pipe Flow	p. 133
Pipe Flow and Bernoulli Equation	p. 134
Laminar and Turbulent Flow	p. 136
Pressure Drop in Blood Vessels	p. 138
Flow Control in Blood Vessels	p. 139
Strokes	p. 140
Why Turbulent Flow Is Bad	p. 140
The Highway System' of the Body	p. 141
Pressure and Velocity in the Arteries	p. 142
The Hemoglobin Connection	p. 143
How Much Oxygen Does the Body Need?	p. 144
How Many Capillaries?	p. 147
Laminar Flow in the Aorta	p. 147
The Power and Frequency of the Heart	p. 148
The Ventilation System	p. 149
Breathing	p. 151
Blood Circulation Time	p. 153
From Digestion to Propagation	p. 153
Problems and Hints for Solutions	p. 154
Animals in Motion	p. 159
Kinematics of the Motion	p. 159
Translational and Rotational Motion	p. 160
How to Manipulate Rotational Motion	p. 162
How the Heron Starts Flying	p. 163
Linear Motion: Predators Fast Food	p. 164
Connection of Angular and Linear Velocities	p. 165
Relative Motion	p. 167
Lifetimes and Biological Periods	p. 167
Dynamics of the Moving Animal	p. 170
How Animals Get Going--the Resultant Force	p. 171
Landing on Your Feet	p. 172
The Jumping Flea	p. 173
Forces in Angular Motion	p. 174
Moving Through Fluids	p. 175
Terminal Velocity of a Small Insect Falling in Still Air	p. 176
Rocket Propulsion	p. 177
Masters of Acceleration	p. 178
Locomotion and Energy	p. 179
Energy Analysis of Moving Objects	p. 180
Cost of Transport and Resistive Force	p. 180
Saving Mechanical Power by Slender Limbs	p. 182
Spring Loaded Animals	p. 183
Energy Storage in Elastic Body Components	p. 184
Continuous Motion	p. 186
Problems and Hints for Solutions	p. 187
Locomotion	p. 191
Periodic Motion and Resonance	p. 191
Periodic Motion	p. 192
Resonance, a Principle to Reduce Energy Consumption	p. 194
Locomotion in the Water by Flippers and Tails	p. 197
How Fast Are Swimmers?	p. 198
Propulsion Strategies at Higher Speeds	p. 199
Swimming at Slow Speeds	p. 200
A Model for Fish Propulsion from Rest	p. 201
On the Wing	p. 205
Generation of Lift	p. 206
The Minimum Flight Velocity	p. 209
Why Big Birds Cannot Fly	p. 211
The Hovering Flight of Insects and Humming Birds	p. 212
Flapping Flight	p. 214
Locomotion with Arms and Legs	p. 216
The Arms Race of Tree Dwellers	p. 217
Walking	p. 218
Running	p. 220
The Transition from Walking to Running	p. 224
Why T-Rex Was No Endurance Runner	p. 225
From Efficient Use of Energy to the Smarter Use of Information	p. 226
Problems and Hints for Solutions	p. 228
Waves, the Carriers of Information	p. 231
External and Internal Information	p. 232
From Genes to Brain and Senses	p. 232
Organic and Technical Evolution	p. 234
The Information and Material Hierarchies	p. 234
Contact and Distant Senses	p. 235
Signals and Sensor Sensitivities	p. 235
What Is Extracted from the Background?	p. 238
Wave Fields	p. 239
Some Properties of Waves	p. 240
Amplitudes, Wavelength, and How Things Move in Waves	p. 241
The Inverse Square Law	p. 243
Reduction of Intensity by Absorption ([lambda double greater-than sign] D)	p. 245
Scattering	p. 247
How Waves Change Their Direction	p. 248
The Phase Velocity	p. 249
The Phase Velocity in a Compressible Medium	p. 251
Refraction	p. 252
Total Internal Reflection	p. 252
Light Pipes and Wave Guides	p. 253
Sound Pipes: The Sofar Channel and Ground Effect	p. 254
The Lateral Spread of Wave Fronts	p. 255
Information Background	p. 257
Problems and Hints for Solutions	p. 258
Light, Abundant Information	p. 261
Facts of Light	p. 261
Photons and Waves	p. 262
Why Light Waves Can Produce Sharp Images	p. 263
Intensity, Wavelength, and Photon Numbers	p. 264
Biological Effects of Different Wavelengths	p. 265
How Many Photons Make an Image?	p. 266
Imaging Principles	p. 267
Primitive Radiation Detectors	p. 268
Pinhole Cameras	p. 269
Imaging by Lenses	p. 270
Eyes in Air and Under Water	p. 271
The F-Number	p. 274
The Diffraction Limit: How Sharp Are the Images of Lens Eyes?	p. 275
Image Resolution of Lens Eyes	p. 276
Why Imaging Cuts Down on Background Noise	p. 277
The Human Eye	p. 278
Geometry and Physiology	p. 278
Receptors of the Eye, Sensitivities, and Field of View	p. 279
Resolution of the Human Eye	p. 281
Aging of Eye Components	p. 281
Animal Eyes	p. 282
Pinhole Camera Eyes for Heat Radiation	p. 283
Spider Eyes	p. 285
Fish Eyes	p. 285
Big Eyes of the Deep	p. 287
Non Spherical, Large Aperture Lens Eyes of Trilobites	p. 289
Facet Eyes	p. 290
The Principle of Light Pipes	p. 290
Insect Eyes	p. 292
Intensity Attenuation by Frustrated Internal Reflection	p. 292
Unwanted and Wanted Visibility	p. 294
How Animals Make Perfect Reflectors Using Interference	p. 294
Improving the Contrast with Dielectric Mirrors	p. 296
Hiding in the Water	p. 296
Ghosts of the Deep with Anti Reflection Coatings	p. 298
Unmasking the Ghosts with Polarized Light	p. 299
More About Color	p. 299
The Active Production of Light, and Limits of Seeing	p. 300
Bioluminescence	p. 300
Signal to Noise Reduction Through Binocular Seeing	p. 301
Limitation of Seeing and How the Brain Sets You into the Picture	p. 302
High Resolution of Optical Signals Is Not Always Good Enough	p. 303
Problems and Hints for Solutions	p. 304
Sound	p. 309
Signals of Sound, Noise, and Language	p. 310
Phenomena Associated with Sound	p. 310
Parameters of Sound	p. 311
Sound Quality	p. 312
Fourier Analysis	p. 314
Intensity and Impedance	p. 315
Intensity and Particle Velocity	p. 315
Pressure, Impedance, and Velocity Fluctuations	p. 316
The Decibel Scale	p. 319
Beats	p. 320
Sound Absorption, Scattering and Refraction in Free Space	p. 321
Impedance Mismatch Between Air and Water	p. 323
Hearing and Voice Transmission in Air	p. 325
Ears	p. 326
Principles of Amplification in Mammal Ears	p. 327
Pinna and Middle Ear Amplification	p. 328
Inner Ear Frequency Analysis	p. 329
The Ear of an Aquatic Mammal	p. 331
Lateral Lines of Fish	p. 332
The Sensitivity of Ears	p. 333
Voices and Sound Production	p. 334
How Sound Is Shed off a Sender	p. 335
Resonators	p. 336
Oscillations of Elastic Solids	p. 337
Oscillations of Air Volumes	p. 338
Frequencies of Periodically Interrupted Motion	p. 340
Voices	p. 342
The Human Voice	p. 342
The Frequency Spectrum of Speech	p. 344
The Sound of Frogs	p. 346
The Sound of Snapping Shrimp: Cavitation	p. 346
Insect Sounds	p. 347
Sperm Whale Sound	p. 347
Information Extracted from Ambient Sound	p. 347
Direction, Echoes, and Shadows	p. 348
Signal Spectrum Recognition - Who Is There?	p. 349
Distance and Directions of Sound Sources	p. 349
Delay Time Measurements	p. 351
Sound Images	p. 353
Little Energy Goes a Long Way Traveling as Information	p. 353
Delphinid Acoustic Apparatus	p. 354
Echo Location of Bats	p. 355
How Bats Know the Speed of Their Prey	p. 356
Sound, the Social Sense	p. 359
Comparison of Light and Sound Images	p. 359
Why Sound Images Are Not Always Good Enough	p. 360
Problems and Hints for Solutions	p. 361
Body Electronics and Magnetic Senses	p. 365
The Electrical Machinery of Life	p. 365
Life Started in Leyden Jars	p. 366
Forces Created by Electric Fields	p. 367
Moving Charges into and out of Cells	p. 368
Conduction of Nerve Pulses	p. 371
Gates in Cells	p. 371
Moving Charges by Mechanical Stresses: Piezo Effect	p. 374
Electrical Signals of Muscle Activities	p. 374
Passive Use of Electrical Fields	p. 374
The 6th Sense: Electrical Detection of Prey	p. 375
Electrical Detectors of Fish	p. 376
Platypus	p. 376
The Active Use of Electric Fields	p. 377
Fields and Signals	p. 377
Living Batteries and Voltage Sources	p. 379
Navigation by Magnetic Fields	p. 380
The Origin of Magnetic Fields	p. 380
The Earth's Magnetic Field	p. 381
The Magnetic Sense	p. 382
Magneto-Tactic Bacteria with Ideal Compass Needles	p. 383
Pigeons Trout, Turtles, and Dolphins	p. 384
Life on Mars?	p. 385
Orientation by u x B in the Earth Field	p. 385
Problems and Hints for Solutions	p. 387
Better Physics: The Trifle of Difference	p. 389
Physics Enables Within the Framework of Biological Restrictions	p. 391
Physics Concepts	p. 391
Fitness Landscape Molded by Physics	p. 394
Examples of How Physical Principles Are Utilized	p. 395
Non-Dimensional Numbers and Scaling Relations	p. 398
Co-Evolution	p. 399
Optima and Limits	p. 400
Size and Mass Ranges	p. 400
Living Space Ranges	p. 401
Information Limits	p. 402
Energy Transfer Time Limits	p. 402
Optima	p. 403
The Phase Space Arena of Organisms	p. 404
Overcoming Limitations: The Workshop of Evolution	p. 405
Measures and Countermeasures	p. 406
New Territory	p. 406
The Open Door	p. 407
Elements of Zoological Physics Modeling	p. 408
Limitations of Modeling	p. 409
Some Open Questions	p. 409
Problems and Essays	p. 411
Epilog	p. 416
List of Tables	p. 417
References	p. 419
Index	p. 423
Table of Contents provided by Rittenhouse. All Rights Reserved.

Zoological Physics

Quantitative Models of Body Design, Actions, and Physical Limitations of Animals

At a Glance

Hardcover

Shipping

How to return your order

Defective items

You Can Find This Book In

Other Editions and Formats

Paperback

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