Visualizing Viscous Flow and Diffusion in the Circulatory System

Abstract

For many life science students, introductory physics is a requirement that bears little relevance to their future career goals. This perception is particularly striking in pharmacy programs, where only 12.6% of students identify physics as being very important toward their profession. To combat this perception, and to provide a more effective learning environment for our students, our institution is making an effort to infuse medically oriented applications into its introductory physics courses. Here, we share three computer simulations we developed for visualizing and exploring the physics of substance transport through vascular circulation and into tissue compartments. The transport is based on a simple model where molecules obey Newton’s second law as they are acted upon by a pressure gradient, viscous forces, and diffusion. These simulations can be used as class demonstrations, active learning activities, or virtual labs.