Physics for Medical Students

Physics for Medical Students was designed to provide a semester course of physics to medical students. It covers basic physics of solid mechanics, electricity, fluids, heat, sound, optics, and atomic and nuclear physics. The physical concepts are medically oriented with the intention of relating physics to the students' everyday life. Each topic starts with a medical case, which intends to raise a question or introduce a medical diagnostic or therapeutic modality. The following text explains the physics concepts in relation to the medical case and eventually answers the question and describes the mechanism of operation on which the medical modality is based. Some of the medical applications covered in the book include skeletal traction, cardiac pacemakers, blood pressure, ultrasonography, radiography, magnetic resonance imaging, and nuclear medicine.