BE/BIO 105: Introduction to Biomechanics Monday, Wednesday, Friday, 2:00-3:00, 102 Steele

1. BE/BIO 105: Introduction to Biomechanics Monday, Wednesday, Friday, 2:00-3:00, 102 Steele Instructor: Michael Dickinson flyman@caltech.edu Teaching Assistants: Peter Wier: weir@caltech.edu Sawyer Fuller: minster@caltech.edu Text: Comparative Biomechanics: Life’s Physical World Steven Vogel, Princeton, 1st Edition Schedule: Lectures – M W F (2-3pm) Monday & Wednesdays – standard lectures Friday – lecture & discussion on assigned reading (required) Office Hours (MD)– Wednesdays (3-5pm) 207 Keck Grading: There will be 2 take home exams (33% each) and homework (33%) Grading policy: Homework will be handed out (and posted) in class on Friday. Homework is due by 5pm the following Wed. (deposit box outside Keck 207). Each day an assignment is late results in a 10% reduction in score (compounded daily). For take home exams, the daily reduction rate is 20%. For these purposes, each day is defined from 5pm to 5pm. Please take note, Keck Hall is locked at 5pm each day.

4. voluntary escape flight initiation Gwyneth Card

5. Integrative Approach sensory systems sensory feedback central nervous system motor commands mechano- sensory musculoskeletal system vision kinematics & forces olfaction dynamics& environment Behavior

6. Comparative Biomechanics: The application of physics and engineering to study principles of organismal design

7. Socrates 469-399 b.c. Good points: fostered interest in natural world. Bad points: liked hemlock drinks Plato 427-347 b.c. Good points: liked math Bad points: hated experiments Aristotle 384-322 b.c. Good points: liked experiments Bad points: hated math Wrote: De Motu Animalium A short history of biomechanics Part 1. The Greeks

8. Part 2. The Romans Galen 129-200 AD Physician to one of the 5 ‘good’ emperors, Marcus Aurelius Good points: initiated use of ‘animal models’ in physiology and medicine. Bad points: Promoted wacky Hippocratian notions, e.g. four body humours (blood, yellow bile, black bile and phlegm) Influence lasted until Renaissance. As important in eastern Islamic culture as western Christian culture

9. ‘Bio-inspired’ engineering Part 3. The Italians Leonardo da Vinci 1452-1519 Good points: genius Bad points: paranoid genius Direct combination of engineering and biology

10. Length = L Mass x gravity Consider ‘simple’ animal/plant: Mass ~L3 strength ~ sectional area Principle of Similitude Strength ~L2 Force/Area scales with L. big things need thick Legs. Galileo Galilei 1564 -1642 Good points: great scientist Bad points: terrible politician Modern concepts of static forces and scale.

12. Conceived musculo-skeletal system as collections of levers and gears: Giovanni Borelli 1608-1679 Good points: father of biomechanics Bad points: grimaced a lot e.g. ‘Borelli’s Law’ work to jump ~ mass x height; therefore, height ~ work/mass. muscle work ~ muscle mass, therefore height is independent of size!

15. Part 4. The Germans Stress lines in crane and femur Carl Culmann Hermann von Meyer 1821-1881 1801-169 Good points: Collaborative team of engineer and paleontologist Bad points: facial hair style

16. Part 5. Other People • Darcy Thompson • 1860-1948 • Good points: • Father of developmental mechanics. • Considered by many to be greatest scientific writer in English language • Wrote On Growth and Form

17. Sydnie Manton • 1903-1979 • Good points: • Combined study of phylogeny with biomechanics • Anticipated synthesis of evolution and development

18. Edward Muybridge • 1830-1904 • Good points: • Figured out horse gallop • Anticipated importance of high speed cine/video • Bad points: Hung out at Stanford

19. Steven Vogel Steven Wainwright

20. BE/Bio 105 What is role of leaf morphology? Why is alder shaped like this? Why do/don’t trees fall down? Lecture #2:Stuff Central question: how do things work? Why is oak tree shaped like this?