Current Topics in Biophysics (SC/BPHS 2090 3.0) (archived) Assignments (Fall 2014):
Assignment One (Lew)
Here is a key to the first assignment: Mammal vs Reptile Radiative Balance and Godzilla [pdf].
Past Assignments (Lew)
Sample Assignments (Lew)
Here is a possible assignment on Galileo scaling and strength of biomaterials. The hook is the evolution of Godzilla. Specifically,
Godzilla's increasing size in the movies.
The assignment question: Would it work?
Here is a sample assignment for Fick's Laws of Diffusion (Lew) (It is provided as a worked example for the lectures on Diffusion, Advection and Biological Pumps.):
- Diffusion assignment [pdf]
Another sample assignment for Pressure-Driven Pumps (It is provided as a worked example for the lectures on Diffusion, Advection and Biological Pumps.):
Here are key-less sample assignments (Lew) (Disclaimer: Actual assignments may or may not be similar depending on the material covered in lecture):
- Bergmann's Rule with Swedish moose data [pdf]
- Radiative balance [pdf]
- The flight of the fairy fly [pdf]
- Swimming and size (Example one) [pdf]
- Swimming and size (Example two) [pdf]
The image below is re-drawn from Burrow's work on the mechanics and energetics of snow flea jumping. It's a different type of a sample assignment: in which students would be asked to explain the physics of a snow flea jump (having read the paper), so that even a non-physicist like Dr. Lew could understand it.
