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Course: MCAT > Unit 3
Lesson 1: Foundation 4: Physical and chemical principles- What is this passage set and how is it organized?
- How to use this passage set
- Translational motion: Swine flu in Finland
- Translational motion: The world's fastest mammal
- Translational motion: The ballistics of gene bombardment
- Translational motion: Concussions in professional athletes
- Translational motion: DNA motion in gel electrophoresis
- Translational motion: Ancient Greek catapults and medical packs
- Force and motion: Knee injuries in athletes
- Force and motion: Forces on a kidney stone
- Force and equilibrium: An elevator in a hospital
- Force and equilibrium: A ramp in an administrative office
- Force and equilibrium: Testing new suture material
- Force and equilibrium: Patients in a wheelchair
- Force and equilibrium: Frictionless pulley system
- Force and equilibrium: Hills, inclement weather, and cars
- Force and equilibrium: How do geckoes stick to surfaces?
- Force and equilibrium: Comparing stress exerted by different running shoes
- Force and equilibrium: Frictional forces on mobility walkers
- Work and energy: Basal metabolic rate and energy expenditure
- Work and energy: Rollercoasters are energy at work!
- Work and energy: Elasticity and kinetics of vulcanized rubber
- Mechanics of the human body: Standing balance
- Mechanics of the human body: The forearm as a third-class lever
- Mechanics of the human body: The physics of walking and running
- Mechanics of the human body: A physical model of human sitting
- Mechanics of the human body: Forces and torques acting on the hip joint
- Mechanics of the human body: Effects of microgravity on muscle tissues
- Mechanics of the human body: Tension in the muscles
- Fluid mechanics: A scale under water
- Fluid mechanics: Hydrotherapy and full body immersion
- Fluid mechanics: Flow and Poiseuille's law in operation
- Fluid mechanics: The tubular system in an aquarium
- Fluid dynamics and the circulatory system: Blood flow in arteries
- Fluid dynamics and the circulatory system: Leukocytes rolling on blood vessel walls
- Fluid dynamics and the circulatory system: Cardiac pressure-volume curves 1
- Fluid dynamics and the circulatory system: Cardiac pressure-volume curves 2
- Fluid dynamics and the circulatory system: Coronary heart disease and blood pressure
- Gases: Ideal gases in medicine
- Gases: Chlorofluorocarbons and the environment
- Gases: Charles' law and gas in a piston
- Gases: Heat engines and work
- Gases: Preventing barotrauma in deep-sea divers
- Gases: Pressure regulation and fluid dynamics of the respiratory system
- Gases: Fick's law and oxygen diffusion in salmon
- Electrostatics: Medicine and metal spheres
- Electrostatics: Electric field treatments and electroporation
- Circuit elements: Analyzing electrocardiogram voltage signals
- Circuit elements: The elements of a simple defibrillator
- Circuit elements: Capacitors in electrocardiography monitors
- Circuit elements: Electromyography and passive filters
- Circuit elements: Cardiac dysrhythmia and defibrillators
- Magnetism: Mass spectrometry in the operating room
- Magnetism: The effect of contrast agents on MRI signals
- Electrochemistry: Studying metabolism with galvanic cells
- Physics of nerve cells: Electrochemistry and circuit components of axons
- Physics of nerve cells: Neuronal membranes as nature's capacitors
- Physics of nerve cells: The speed of a neural impulse
- Sound: How movements influence an ultrasound
- Sound: Resonance in a tube
- Sound: Clinical applications of tuning forks
- Sound: Doppler effect in living tissue (ultrasound)
- Sound: The effects of ear canal acoustics on hearing ability
- Sound: Pure tone audiometry in diagnosing hearing loss
- Sound: Using ultrasounds to measure blood flow velocity
- Sound: The effects of ultrasound on different tissue types
- Electromagnetic radiation: Shortwave diathermy in rehabilitative medicine
- Light and optics: An experiment with light rays and a prism
- Light and optics: Using optical traps to manipulate DNA
- Light and optics: Looking skin deep with dermoscopy
- Light and optics: A mirror in an operating room
- Light and optics: Analysis of image production by the human eye
- The refraction of light through the human eye
- Light and optics: The physics of eyesight correction
- Light and optics: Converging and diverging lenses in a lab
- Light and optics: Hyperopia and convex lenses
- Light and optics: Eye disease and contact lenses
- Light and optics: Using scallops to correct vision
- Particles/radioactivity: Therapeutic radioisotopes
- Particles/radioactivity: Radioactive tracer Technetium-99
- Particles/radioactivity: Decay of iodine-131
- Particles/radioactivity: Technetium decay and its cardiac application
- Particles/radioactivity: Gamma knife radiosurgery
- Particles/radioactivity: Radionuclides for radiopharmaceuticals
- Particles/radioactivity: Muon tomography for medical imaging
- Particles/radioactivity: Particle accelerators for proton beam therapy
- Stoichiometry: Alcohol production and absorption
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What is this passage set and how is it organized?
This article introduces this passage set, which covers topics from Foundation 4 of the MCAT. It also discusses how the Foundation 4 passages are organized by topic, roughly in line with the AAMC blueprint.
The passages you’ll find in this set cover physical science topics from AAMC Foundation 4. This foundation, along with Foundation 5 (tested in the passage set below this one), is part of the Chemical and Physical Foundations of Biological Sciences section of the MCAT. Foundation 4 covers topics in physics and atomic chemistry, whereas Foundation 5 covers topics in general and organic chemistry as well as biochemistry.
This statement by the AAMC describes the significance of Foundation 4 topics for pre-medical students: “Complex living organisms transport materials, sense their environment, process signals, and respond to changes using processes understood in terms of physical principles.” Accordingly, many of the MCAT passages in this section apply physics and chemistry concepts to topics in biology and medicine.
Passages in this set are labeled with topics that roughly align with those listed in the AAMC Chemical and Physical Foundations blueprint, under Foundation 4. The passages are also organized by topic, in an order consistent with the AAMC blueprint. The topic of each passage is indicated by its subtitle, as circled below.
Here is a list of our Foundation 4 passage topics and their corresponding AAMC content categories:
Content Category 4A: Translational motion, forces, work, energy, and equilibrium in living systems
- Translational motion
- Force and motion
- Force and equilibrium
- Work and energy
- Mechanics of the human body
Content category 4B: Importance of fluids for the circulation of blood, gas movement, and gas exchange
- Fluid mechanics
- Fluid dynamics/circulatory system
- Gases
Content category 4C: Electrochemistry and electrical circuits and their elements
- Electrostatics
- Circuit elements
- Magnetism
- Electrochemistry
- Physics of nerve cells
Content Category 4D: How light and sound interact with matter
- Sound
- Electromagnetic radiation
- Light and optics
Content Category 4E: Atoms, nuclear decay, electronic structure, and atomic chemical behavior
- Atomic structure
- Particles/radioactivity
- Periodic trends
- Stoichiometry