Physics in the pharmaceutical curriculum

Thesis (M.A.)--Boston University This item was digitized by the Internet Archive.The thesis consists, in the main, of a laboratory manual in pharmaceutical physics adaptei primarily to satisfy the requirements of pharmacy students. It includes thirty-two experiments dealing with the preneral topics of mechanics, heat, electricity, and optics, those divisions of the science of physics which constitute a major portion of the fundamental physical concepts which are basic to the various sciences which comprise the pharmaceutical curriculum. More specifically, the series of experiments deals with such topics as methods of measurement, specific gravity, surface tension, viscosity, solution and solubility curves, dialysis and osmosis, absorption and adsorption, thermometry, distillation, boiling point determination, melting point determination, the gas laws, electrolysis, micrometry, colorimetry, polarimetry, spectra, and phase-testing of emulsions, topics vhlch are pharmaceutically significant since they form the basis for the comprehensive understanding of the many processes and operations encountered in the study and practice of pharmacy. Emphasis has been placed on the correlation of the basic principles and fundamental laws with specific pharmaceutical applications of these concepts. To this end, a comment on the pharmaceutical application of the principle or law which an experiment is intended to illustrate has been included, in most instances, in the introduction to the experiment. A statement of the purpose of the experiment, a list of the apparatus and materials required for performing the experiment, a theoretical introduction, working directions including photographs and diagrams of the apparatus, and questions and exercises of a pharmaceutically significant character comprise the data which have been compiled for the experiments included in the laboratory manual