BIOPHYSICS FINAL EXAMINATION (2009/2010)

LIST OF EXAMINATION TOPICS

1. Result of a measurement, systematic and random errors, accuracy and precision, average,
standard deviation, error of the mean, basic rules of error propagation, fundamental
physical quantities, their units, the SI system of units
2. Macrotransport: density, pressure, Archimedes’ principle, flow of ideal fluids, flow rate,
equation of continuity
3. Bernoulli`s equation and its static (fluid at rest in a container, the manometer, blood
pressure measurement by cannulation, the role of gravity in the circulation, effect of
upward acceleration on the bood pressure) and dynamic consequences
4. Flow of viscous fluids, Newton’s friction law, viscosity and its temperature dependence,
laminar flow, parabolic velocity profile, Poiseuille’ law, power of maintaining of laminar
flow
5. Turbulent flow, Reynolds number, measurement of the blood pressure by
sphygmomanometer, the concept of flow resistance, flow resistance of parallel and serial
connected tubes
6. Viscous drag forces, Stokes’ law, the terminal velocity of a small particle falling in a
viscous fluid, measurement of viscosity (Höppler’s and Hesslers’ viscosimeter)
7. Flow in the circulatory system, AVA, the net flow resistance of parallel connected
cylindrical tubes, the pressure drop along the circulatory system, transmural pressure, the
law of Laplace, energetics of the circulatory system, the work done by the heart, the
indicator diagram, flow in tubes of elasctic wall, non-Newtonian fluids
8. Diffusion , Fick’s first law, the diffusion constant and its properties, Fick’s second law
and its solution for the special case when medicine is injected into the vein, gas exchange
through the alveolo - capillary membrane
9. Osmosis, the osmotic pressure, Van’t Hoff’s law, iso-, hypo-, and hypertonic solutions,
measurement of the osmotic pressure
10. Transport across the cell membrane, the structure of the cell membrane, passive
diffusion, membrane permeability, correlation between the membrane permeability and
the lipid solubility, properties and mechanisms of the facilitated diffusion, active
transport
11. Sedimentation, centrifugation, the sedimentation velocity, the sedimentation coefficient,
ultracentrifugation, analytical and preparative ultracentrifuges
12. Determinations of molecular mass by sedimentation-diffusion and sedimentation
equilibrium methods, density gradient centrifugation
13. Basic principles of geometric optics, the concept of the light ray, rules of reflection and
refraction (Snell’s law), relative and absolute index of refraction, total reflection, fiber
optics, light pipes,
14. The light path in a planparallel slab, refraction in prism, deflection of light by a small
angle prism, dispersion of light
15. Optical image formation, real and virtual images and objects, image formed by a plane
mirror, thin spherical lenses, focal point of the lens, the ’lensmaker’ equation
16. Image formation by lenses, ray tracing method, thin lens formula, the power of a lens
17. Combination of thin lenses, lens system, lens aberrations, thick lenses, the 6 cardinal
points of a thick lens, ray-tracing for thick lenses, the lens formula for thick lenses

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18. The human eye (main parts, rods and cones, connection to the brain), light path inside the
eye, the role of the lens, far and near points , accommodation width, visual acuity,
sensitivity, colour perception, optical defects of vision,
19. Simple magnifier, structure and image formation of a compound microscope, optical tube
length, magnification of the microscope
20. The wave nature of light, basic wave features (frequency, period, wavelength, speed),
sinusoidal waves, phase, the electromagnetic spectrum,
21. The principle of superposition, interference of waves (light), he concept of light front,
Huygens-Fresnel’s principle, diffraction of light, coherent waves
22. Light diffraction by circular aperture, diffraction disk, resolving power of optical devices,
the Rayleigh’s criterion
23. The Abbe’s criterion, numerical aperture of a microscope, immersion microscope, UV
microscope
24. Wave property of matter, de Broglie wavelength of a particle, the principle of electron
microscopy, the wavelength of an electron accelerated by an electric potential difference,
transmission and scanning electron microscopes
25. The photoelectric effect, the main experimental observations, the photon concept of
Einstein, the photoelectric Einstein’s equation, the photoelectron multiplier
26. Interaction of light with matter, light emission, Rayleigh, Raman and Compton scattering,
absorption, photoluminescence, fluorescence, phosphorescence
27. The law of light attenuation in matter, the Lamber law, the Beer-Lamber law,
transmission, absorbance, optical density
28. Principle and properties of lasers, stimulated emission, inverse population, properties of
laser lights, types of lasers
29. Production and properties of X-rays, the effects of X-rays, the X-ray spectrum
(bremsstrahlung and characteristic X-rays)
30. Attenuation of X-rays in matter, the attenuation coefficient, the mass-attenuation
coefficient, photoeffect, Compton scattering, pair production
31. The behaviour of cells, tissues when low or high external electric current flows through,
the Ohm’s law, the impedance of a resistor and a capacitor, harmful physiological effects
of electric currents
32. Active electric properties of living matter, excitability, resting potential of cells, diffusion
potentials, Donnan potential,
33. The electrochemical potential, the Nernst-equations, comparison of the calculated and
measured resting potentials, ion currents across a typical mammalian axon membrane, the
Na-K pump,
34. Changing of the resting potential, response to a weak stimulus, the action potential and its
propagation along a non-myelinated and a myelinated axon
35. Measurement of the membrane potential, electric measurements, voltage clamp
technique, patch-clamp technique, optical measurements of the membrane potential
36. Body surface biopotentials, electrocardiography (ECG), the heart cycle, the Einthoven
triangle, a typical Lead II ECG signal, Wilson-type arrangement,
electroencephalography (EEG), classification of the EEG signals (δ, Θ,α and β waves)
37. Structure and operation of cathode-ray oscilloscope
38. High frequency electric diathermy (the capacitance method, the inductance method,
microwave diathermy) high frequency electric surgery,
39. Natural radioactivity, alpha, beta and gamma radiation, composition of the atom,
composition of the atomic nucleus, definition of isotopes, size and binding energy of

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 nuclei, the A dependence of the binding energy per nucleon, possible way to gain nuclear
energy, fission and fusion
40. Properties of radioactivity, the radioactive decay law, decay constant, half-life,
biological and effective half-life, radiocarbon dating, nuclear reactions, chain reactions
41. Transmission of nuclear radiations (α, β and γ-radiation, neutrons) through matter and
their ionising capabilities
42. Radiations units (source activity, radiation exposure, absorbed dose, dose equivalent,
effective dose)
43. The biological effects of ionising radiations, “transferred energy – induced effect” non-
proportionality, stochastic and deterministic effects
44. Basic principles of radiation protection (justification, optimization (ALARA), dose
limits) gas filled radiation detectors (ionization chamber, proportional counter, GM tube),
the scintillation detector
45. The radioactive tracer method, preferences in the selection of radioisotopes,
46. In vitro and in vivo uses of radioisotopes: radioimmunoanalysis (RIA), diagnosis of the
thyroid gland
47. Ultrasound, reflection of ultrasound, the Doppler effect, the effects and diagnostic use of
ultrasound, echoencephalography,
48. Conventional linear and axial tomography, computer tomography,
49. Image formation using radioisotopes, the rectilinear scanner, the gamma camera,
thermography,
50. Positron emission tomography (PET), NMR imaging,

At the examination students have to draw 1 topic, the headwords listed

above serve as guides, only, for the about 15 minutes preparation on the
spot. Questions for any related topics are to be expected! During the
preparation the use of reference tables, calculators or any other aids is
strongly prohibited!

7 December, 2009

Prof. Zoltán Szőkefalvi-Nagy