Research Catalog

Title

Comparative biomechanics : life's physical world / Steven Vogel ; illustrated by Annette de Ferrari.

Author

Vogel, Steven, 1940-2015.

Publication

Princeton : Princeton University Press, [2013]

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Description

x, 628 pages : illustrations; 27 cm

Summary

"Comparative Biomechanics takes a comprehensive look at the mechanical aspects of life--covering animals and plants, structure and movement, and solids and fluids. This revised and updated edition examines how the forms and activities of animals and plants reflect the materials available to nature, considers rules for fluid flow and structural design, and explores how organisms contend with environmental forces. Drawing on physics and mechanical engineering, the author looks at how animals swim and fly, modes of terrestrial locomotion, organism responses to winds and water currents, circulatory and suspension-feeding systems, and the relationship between size and mechanical design. He also investigates links between the properties of biological materials--such as spider silk, jellyfish jelly, and muscle--and their structural and functional roles. Early chapters and appendices introduce relevant physical variables for quantification, and problem sets are provided at the end of each chapter. For a wider audience, the textbook establishes the basic biological context for applied areas--including ergonomics, orthopedics, mechanical prosthetics, kinesiology, sports medicine, and biomimetics--and provides materials for exhibit designers at science museums."--The Publisher.

Subject

• Biomechanical Phenomena > physiology
• Biomechanics
• Physiology, Comparative

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (pages 567-606) and indexes.

Access (note)

• MyiLibrary allows one user access at a time (21.03.18).

Contents

Part One : Life's physical context. Preambulations -- Setting the stage -- More tools -- -- Part Two : Fluids. Gasses and liquids : fluids at rest -- Gases meet liquids : the interface -- Viscosity and the patterns of flow -- The forces of flow -- Fluid events near surfaces -- Where flows are inside -- More about circulatory systems -- Flows in small worlds -- About lift -- Thrust for flying and swimming -- Motion at the air-water interface -- -- Part Three : Solids and structures. A matter of materials -- Biological materials : tuning properties properly -- Biological materials : cracks and composites -- More about complex materials : viscoelasticity -- Simple structures : beams, columns, shells -- Less simple structural matters -- Hydrostatic structures, hydraulic devices -- Structural systems -- Motility and mobility -- Using muscle : tuning and transmissions -- Getting around on land -- -- Part Four : The contexts of biomechanics. Loose ends and perspectives -- Appendices : Quantification : rules of the road -- Motion and direction -- Size and scaling.

ISBN

• 9780691155661
• 0691155666

LCCN

• 2012037463
• 99982177195

Owning Institutions

Columbia University Libraries