Physics 131 Physics for Biologists

Part of the weekly homework assignment is in Canvas, and part will be done on paper and handed in in class.

NOTE: The homework will be scanned to guard against lost papers. As a result it is very important that you DO NOT STAPLE OR ATTACH YOUR PAGES IN ANY WAY. If you do so, the scanner may destroy them. Also, if you have torn your pages out of a spiral bound notebook, please remove the perforations.

The online homework is due on Friday at 9 PM and the paper homework is due at the beginning of the last lecture of the week (Friday at 10).

The weekly homework will ask youto do 3-5 challenging problems including estimations, explanations, essay questions, worked out problems, and even some challenging multiple choice questions. You are encouraged to work on these with friends. The course center is a good space to work together and get feedback from a TA or Professor. CLICK FOR THE COURSE CENTER SCHEDULE.

You have to write up your solutions independently. Be careful: If two or more submitted answers are essentially identical, neither will receive credit. If your solution is essentially identical to one found on the web, you will receive no credit and all your previous answers will be searched to see if they are also copied. Credit for those found to be copied will be removed.

Some of the WebAssign problems (mostly multiple-choice) will be computer-graded, some will be graded for correctness by a human, and some won't be graded (and you'll just get points for completion). However, we won't tell you ahead of time which problems will be graded, so you'll have to do your best on all of them! For the problems that are only graded for completion, make sure you look at the solution afterwards (posted on ELMS); don't let your perfect score on that problem (based on completion) fool you into thinking you did it correctly. (Maybe you did do it correctly, but it's good to confirm that.)

When you get your homework back, it may have otherwise-unexplained letters on it. These are grading codes, and there's a key to them here.

Due date (Fri)	Online HW (due at 9 PM)	Paper Hand in HW (due Beginning of last Lecture of the week)
HW 01 (9/7)	1. Finding a small tumor 2. Growing fingernails 3. Dimensions of pressure	Equations of counting
HW 02 (9/14)	1. Filling a football field 2. Graph for a cart on a tilted airtrack - with spring 3. The tortoise and the hare (Q) 4. The tortoise and the hare (S) 5. Testing the motion detector	The motion of a red blood cell
HW 03 (9/21)	1. Pushing a block on a block (Q) 2. Acceleration at the top 3. The tortoise and the hare (N) 4. How big is a byte?	1. The ball and the juggler 2. Son of the ball and the juggler
HW 04 (9/28)	1. Pushing a block on a block (S) 2. Molly on the skateboard 3. Moving an amoeba 4. How big is a protein molecule 5. Kicking a car	(None -- all on XTA)
HW 05 (10/12)	1. The content in Coulomb's law 2. Forces between a charge and a dipole 3. Repelling pith balls 4. Falling coffee filters 5. Balls up! (ver. 2)	(None -- all on XTA)
HW 06 (10/19)	1. Estimating the charge on DNA 2. Taking Cyrano to the moon 3. Molecular collisions 1 4. Carts and graphs	With a grain of salt
HW 07 (10/26)	1. Diffusion in time and space 2. Diffusion through an ion channel 3. Diffusion and viscosity 4. Breaking bones	Fruit fly forces
HW 08 (11/2)	1. Cells as Lapalace bubbles 2. Blood pressure and strokes 3. Floating in oil and water 4. and 5. (two XTA problems)	Tension in the heart
HW 09 (11/16)	1. Launching a block up a ramp 2. Sliding down a ramp 3. Springy cart on a track 4. The bulldog on the skateboard	What's conserved?
HW 10 (11/30)	1. A biologist, a physicist, and a chemist... 2. Going to a deeper well 3. Thermal to chemical energy transfer 4. Energy in photosynthesis - a toy model	Energy in photosynthesis - Light and dark reactions
HW 11 (12/7)	1. Child on a trampoline 2. Getting energy from ATP 3. Skateboarder energy graphs 4. Following a rocket 5, Heating water in a copper pot	Temperature regulation and the first law