Preface to the
First Edition
The study of environmental biophysics probably began earlier in man's
history than that of any other science. The study of organismenvironment interaction provided a key to survival and progress.
Systematic study of the science and recording of experimental results goes
back many hundreds of years. Benjamin Franklin, the early American
statesmen, inventor, printer, and scientist studied conduction, evaporation,
and radiation. One of his observation is as follows:
My desk on which I now write, and the lock of my desk, are both
exposed to the same temperature of the air, and have therefore the
same degree of heat or cold; yet if I lay my hand successively on
the wood and on the metal, the latter feels much the coldest, not
that it is really so, but being a better conductor, it more readily than
the wood takes away and draws into itself the fire that was in my
skin. '
Progress in environmental biophysics, since the observation of
Franklin and others, has been mainly in two areas: use of mathematical
models to quantify rates of heat and mass transfer and use of the continuity
equation that has led to energy budget analyses. In quantification of heatand mass-transfer rates, environmental biophysicists have followed the
lead of physics and engineering. There, theoretical and empirical models
have been derived that can be applied to many of the transport problems
encountered by the design engineer. The same models were applied to
transport processes between living organisms and their surroundings.
This book is written with two objectives in mind. The first is to describe the physical micro environment in which living organisms reside.
The second is to present a simplified discussion of heat- and mass-transfer
models and apply them to exchange processes between organisms and
their surroundings. One might consider this a sort of engineering approach
to environmental biology, since the intent to teach the student to calculate actual transfer rates, rather than just study the principles involved.
- - -
' ~ r o m a letter to John Lining, written April 14, 1757. The entire letter, along with other
scientific writings by Franklin, can be found in Reference [1.2].
First Edition
The study of environmental biophysics probably began earlier in man's
history than that of any other science. The study of organismenvironment interaction provided a key to survival and progress.
Systematic study of the science and recording of experimental results goes
back many hundreds of years. Benjamin Franklin, the early American
statesmen, inventor, printer, and scientist studied conduction, evaporation,
and radiation. One of his observation is as follows:
My desk on which I now write, and the lock of my desk, are both
exposed to the same temperature of the air, and have therefore the
same degree of heat or cold; yet if I lay my hand successively on
the wood and on the metal, the latter feels much the coldest, not
that it is really so, but being a better conductor, it more readily than
the wood takes away and draws into itself the fire that was in my
skin. '
Progress in environmental biophysics, since the observation of
Franklin and others, has been mainly in two areas: use of mathematical
models to quantify rates of heat and mass transfer and use of the continuity
equation that has led to energy budget analyses. In quantification of heatand mass-transfer rates, environmental biophysicists have followed the
lead of physics and engineering. There, theoretical and empirical models
have been derived that can be applied to many of the transport problems
encountered by the design engineer. The same models were applied to
transport processes between living organisms and their surroundings.
This book is written with two objectives in mind. The first is to describe the physical micro environment in which living organisms reside.
The second is to present a simplified discussion of heat- and mass-transfer
models and apply them to exchange processes between organisms and
their surroundings. One might consider this a sort of engineering approach
to environmental biology, since the intent to teach the student to calculate actual transfer rates, rather than just study the principles involved.
- - -
' ~ r o m a letter to John Lining, written April 14, 1757. The entire letter, along with other
scientific writings by Franklin, can be found in Reference [1.2].