Excursion to Biophysics

Catalog description

This new course aims at freshmen with good preparation in high school physics, chemistry and biology, but who have not had a set mind what specific disciplines to focus on in their college study at Brown. The course will introduce important physics concepts and techniques relevant to biology and medicine, such as diffusion and transport of molecules and intracellular components, Brown motion and active swimming of microbes, motion of particles confined by a harmonic potential, Boltzmann distribution, exponential growth or decay, and statistics of single molecule behavior. The goal of the course is to cultivate interest and provide essential basics for more rigorous study of biological physics as a branch of interdisciplinary science. Enrollment limited to 19 first year students. Instructor permission required.