Physics in Med School??

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This probably could have been folded pretty neatly into your Biochemistry topic.

Anyway, the biggies are: electrical circuits and the corresponding equations (for the cardiovascular system) and a general understanding of how pressure works (for pulmonary and an intuitive grasp of how blood flows).

Optics becomes handy if you want to get into the nitty gritty of why the lens changes the way it does to focus on things closer or farther away.
 
Looking through your short post history, you seem to continually start these new threads looking for some kind of validation that you can hack it in medical school. No one here can answer that for you. If you want to be a physician, apply and go to medical school somewhere. Work hard and you'll be fine. Or don't. Life will carry on either way. What do you plan to do with the information of what physics/biochem/chemistry topics are covered in medical school? Just learn the subjects well enough to succeed in your classes and/or do well on the MCAT. That's all you need to worry about right now.
 
Pons Asinorum said:
Looking through your short post history, you seem to continually start these new threads looking for some kind of validation that you can hack it in medical school. No one here can answer that for you. If you want to be a physician, apply and go to medical school somewhere. Work hard and you'll be fine. Or don't. Life will carry on either way. What do you plan to do with the information of what physics/biochem/chemistry topics are covered in medical school? Just learn the subjects well enough to succeed in your classes and/or do well on the MCAT. That's all you need to worry about right now.
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I just wanna make sure I'm prepared as best as possible. If I know some topics will be important in med school, I'll make a point to focus more on those topics. I'm not looking for validation here. I just want to learn from those who have more experience. Thanks!
 
mssopranogirl said:
I just wanna make sure I'm prepared as best as possible. If I know some topics will be important in med school, I'll make a point to focus more on those topics.
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Also, I would be more concerned about learning the physics topics that will be on the MCAT, which is information that is easy to find. You'll get better return on that investment.
 
You're taught what you need to know in medical school. No one is going to expect you to be advanced in random areas of Physics..
 
Worry more about the MCAT right now. You need to know physics for that.
 
Pons Asinorum said:
Then ask the mods to move this thread into the medical student forum.
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no. this is the appropriate forum for this topic.

OP, you need to know all the topics tested on the MCAT well enough to get a competitive score. The rest will take care of itself. Once you get to med school, no one will ever ask you to crank out an algebra equation for a force vector problem - the emphasis is on understanding the concepts. They will presume that you've retained a working understanding of those from your pre-med time.

But yes, in general physics is very important to understanding physiology.
 
MisterVeil said:
Go big or don't go at all.
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About Jackson's book (stolen from physicsforums.com):

A funny story: our class was taught by Judy Franz, who knows Jackson. One day while we were slogging through some exquisitely complicated integral, Judy paused to comment that Jackson had recently been involved with the magnet design for some accelerator (possibly the SSC, I've forgotten which), and that he needed to go back to his own book as a reference. Jackson, she informed us, was just as flummoxed by his book as we were.
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:laugh:
 
Make sure you are well versed in string theory/ theoretical physics for the inevitable discussion 'round the cadaver. Thats about the only physics concept ive encountered yet...
 
mssopranogirl said:
What topics in physics do you need to know or find helpful for med school, if any...?
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I agree that you don't need to worry about what physics you need for med school, because you're going to need to understand the fundamentals from your physics class well to get a competitive score on the MCAT.

That said, the only physics that I've seen in medical school is fluid dynamics during my cardiovascular system course; Pouseille's law specifically is really important. If anything else has come up, then it hasn't been important enough that I remember. A radiologist that lectured in anatomy used to show off his knowledge of nuclear physics, but it certainly wasn't on the test.

Hope that helps.
 
A funny story: our class was taught by Judy Franz, who knows Jackson. One day while we were slogging through some exquisitely complicated integral, Judy paused to comment that Jackson had recently been involved with the magnet design for some accelerator (possibly the SSC, I've forgotten which), and that he needed to go back to his own book as a reference. Jackson, she informed us, was just as flummoxed by his book as we were.
Click to expand...
Jackson's book is the most confusing piece of **** ever. Griffiths's is better but still tantalizingly incomprehensible. Bottom line is that E&M just really sucks, no matter how you slice it. Stupid spinning rectangular wires in non-uniform magnetic fields...*grumble*

As for the OP, this thread's degeneration should tell you everything you need to know about how useful physics is in med school. Quit freaking out.
 
If you have to take an undergrad course because you're finished with everything else, i suppose you can try statistical mechanics or a biophysics class (which covers parts of biochemistry and other area like electrophysiology).

MilkmanAl said:
Jackson's book is the most confusing piece of **** ever. Griffiths's is better but still tantalizingly incomprehensible. Bottom line is that E&M just really sucks, no matter how you slice it. Stupid spinning rectangular wires in non-uniform magnetic fields...*grumble*
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Spoken like a true physics major lol 👍. We use Griffith's for E&M Theory...is there something else thats better?
 
MilkmanAl said:
As for the OP, this thread's degeneration should tell you everything you need to know about how useful physics is in med school. Quit freaking out.
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Al, I'm sure you would agree with me that everyone is mocking the OP's desire to learn physics for med school far in advance of even being admitted - not commenting on a lack of physics in medical school. I post because I happen to have talked to a few fellow masters students yesterday who are taking physiology with the MS1's at NJMS currently, and they stated specifically that they were surprised at "how much of med school physiology is physics". Was this your experience as well? Did other med school students who are reading this post encounter a lot of physics in physio?
 
theWUbear said:
Al, I'm sure you would agree with me that everyone is mocking the OP's desire to learn physics for med school far in advance of even being admitted - not commenting on a lack of physics in medical school. I post because I happen to have talked to a few fellow masters students yesterday who are taking physiology with the MS1's at NJMS currently, and they stated specifically that they were surprised at "how much of med school physiology is physics". Was this your experience as well? Did other med school students who are reading this post encounter a lot of physics in physio?
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Med school is full of physics, especially when you are dealing with cardio and pulmonary. However I would say the level that you need to know is below that of what you need for the MCAT. Study well for the MCAT and you'll be more than fine in medical school.

Having the background just makes everything easier and faster to learn in medical school; but its not absolutely necessary. As someone has already said, we can't recall the exact equations anymore, but we still retain that fundamental understanding of a lot of concepts. A lot of cardio is exactly like electrical circuits so if you can take than and translate that knowledge you already have it will serve you well. It is actually a nice surprise how easily it comes back after 2-3 years.
 
Al, I'm sure you would agree with me that everyone is mocking the OP's desire to learn physics for med school far in advance of even being admitted - not commenting on a lack of physics in medical school.
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Why, yes, I would agree with that if we're not going to bother to do anything beyond just read what's in the text boxes - no interpretation and whatnot. My whole point was that physics is so useless that people are making fun of the OP for wanting to learn it to get an edge in med school.

Saying that lots of physiology is physics is a truism; physics is everywhere and governs everything. It's just a matter of whether you need a college class to be able to comprehend what you need to know. As far as med school is concerned, pretty much all you should be able to do is plug stuff into an equation you're given and understand some seriously basic math. (Hey, resistance is in the denominator, so flow decreases as it increases! etc.) Even if you somehow can't do that by now, all you'll have to do is sacrifice a few points here and there on tests. Having a thorough understanding of physics is anything but essential.

In case that still wasn't clear enough, here's this:

Taking physics courses with the goal improving your medical knowledge is totally pointless.
 
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