Introduction to Physics & Biomechanics

• • Explore the history of Prosthetics and injuries/diseases that lead to a need for a prosthesis.

  • Understand and apply the scientific method to their own experiment

  • Demonstrate an understanding of the metric system and identify the standard unit of measure for various types of measurements.

  • Determine which unit is best for a specific measurement and convert between different units using dimensional analysis.

Motion & the Human Body

• • Demonstrate an understanding of quantities such as displacement, speed (velocity), position, time, and acceleration.

  • Understand the relationships between velocity and acceleration, compute each measurement, and explore what body movements may be analyzed with respect to these relationships.

  • Explain Newton’s three laws of motion and discuss how they apply to movements made by the human body.

Applied Forces in the Human Body

• • Explain the role of different forces (such as friction and gravity) in body movement and the effect forces have on how joints and muscles perform.

  • Identify the six types of simple machines and investigate how simple machines make up parts of the human skeleton system.

  • Design a structure for a prosthesis based on one of the simple machines.

Applications of Biomechanics in Prosthetics

• • Investigate different materials used in creating prostheses and the advantages and disadvantages of each material

  • Explore the process of designing and building different types of prostheses

  • Use the scientific method to plan and construct a prosthetic limb.

Final Project: Design and construct a prosthesis (arm or leg)