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Body Physics: Motion to Metabolism: Body Surface Area

Body Physics: Motion to Metabolism
Body Surface Area
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table of contents
  1. Cover
  2. Title Page
  3. Copyright
  4. Dedication
  5. Table Of Contents
  6. Why Use Body Physics?
  7. When to use Body Physics
  8. How to use Body Physics
  9. Tasks Remaining and Coming Improvements
  10. Who Created Body Physics?
  11. Unit 1: Purpose and Preparation
    1. The Body's Purpose
    2. The Purpose of This Texbook
    3. Prepare to Overcome Barriers
    4. Prepare to Struggle
    5. Prepare Your Expectations
    6. Prepare Your Strategy
    7. Prepare Your Schedule
    8. Unit 1 Review
    9. Unit 1 Practice and Assessment
  12. Unit 2: Measuring the Body
    1. Jolene's Migraines
    2. The Scientific Process
    3. Scientific Models
    4. Measuring Heart Rate
    5. Heart Beats Per Lifetime
    6. Human Dimensions
    7. Body Surface Area
    8. Dosage Calculations
    9. Unit 2 Review
    10. Unit 2 Practice and Assessment
  13. Unit 3: Errors in Body Composition Measurement
    1. Body Mass Index
    2. The Skinfold Method
    3. Pupillary Distance Self-Measurement
    4. Working with Uncertainties
    5. Other Methods of Reporting Uncertainty*
    6. Unit 3 Review
    7. Unit 3 Practice and Assessment
  14. Unit 4: Better Body Composition Measurement
    1. Body Density
    2. Body Volume by Displacement
    3. Body Weight
    4. Measuring Body Weight
    5. Body Density from Displacement and Weight
    6. Under Water Weight
    7. Hydrostatic Weighing
    8. Unit 4 Review
    9. Unit 4 Practice and Assessment
  15. Unit 5: Maintaining Balance
    1. Balance
    2. Center of Gravity
    3. Supporting the Body
    4. Slipping
    5. Friction in Joints
    6. Tipping
    7. Human Stability
    8. Tripping
    9. Types of Stability
    10. The Anti-Gravity Lean
    11. Unit 5 Review
    12. Unit 5 Practice and Assessment
  16. Unit 6: Strength and Elasticity of the Body
    1. Body Levers
    2. Forces in the Elbow Joint
    3. Ultimate Strength of the Human Femur
    4. Elasticity of the Body
    5. Deformation of Tissues
    6. Brittle Bones
    7. Equilibrium Torque and Tension in the Bicep*
    8. Alternative Method for Calculating Torque and Tension*
    9. Unit 6 Review
    10. Unit 6 Practice and Assessment
  17. Unit 7: The Body in Motion
    1. Falling
    2. Drag Forces on the Body
    3. Physical Model for Terminal Velocity
    4. Analyzing Motion
    5. Accelerated Motion
    6. Accelerating the Body
    7. Graphing Motion
    8. Quantitative Motion Analysis
    9. Falling Injuries
    10. Numerical Simulation of Skydiving Motion*
    11. Unit 7 Review
    12. Unit 7 Practice and Assessment
  18. Unit 8: Locomotion
    1. Overcoming Inertia
    2. Locomotion
    3. Locomotion Injuries
    4. Collisions
    5. Explosions, Jets, and Rockets
    6. Safety Technology
    7. Crumple Zones
    8. Unit 8 Review
    9. Unit 8 Practice and Assessment
  19. Unit 9: Powering the Body
    1. Doing Work
    2. Jumping
    3. Surviving a Fall
    4. Powering the Body
    5. Efficiency of the Human Body
    6. Weightlessness*
    7. Comparing Work-Energy and Energy Conservation*
    8. Unit 9 Review
    9. Unit 9 Practice and Assessment
  20. Unit 10: Body Heat and The Fight for Life
    1. Homeostasis, Hypothermia, and Heatstroke
    2. Measuring Body Temperature
    3. Preventing Hypothermia
    4. Cotton Kills
    5. Wind-Chill Factor
    6. Space Blankets
    7. Thermal Radiation Spectra
    8. Cold Weather Survival Time
    9. Preventing Hyperthermia
    10. Heat Death
    11. Unit 10 Review
    12. Unit 10 Practice and Assessment Exercises
  21. Laboratory Activities
    1. Unit 2/3 Lab: Testing a Terminal Speed Hypothesis
    2. Unit 4 Lab: Hydrostatic Weighing
    3. Unit 5 Lab: Friction Forces and Equilibrium
    4. Unit 6 Lab: Elastic Modulus and Ultimate Strength
    5. Unit 7 Lab: Accelerated Motion
    6. Unit 8 Lab: Collisions
    7. Unit 9 Lab: Energy in Explosions
    8. Unit 10 Lab: Mechanisms of Heat Transfer
  22. Design-Build-Test Projects
    1. Scale Biophysical Dead-lift Model
    2. Biophysical Model of the Arm
    3. Mars Lander
  23. Glossary

16

Body Surface Area

Surface area (A) is an important feature of the human body. Surface area affects the rate at which heat transfers into or out of the body and the rate at which certain chemicals can be absorbed through the skin. The severity of burn injuries depends on the degree of the burn, but also on the percentage of total body surface area affected[1]. The areas and surface areas of geometric shapes can be found using various formulas, such as 1/2\, \times\, base\, \times\, height for triangles. The surface area of a convoluted shape such as the human body is difficult to measure, but we can use typical ratios (proportions) to quickly approximate body surface area. For example the palm surface area can be easily measured as length\, \times\, width and the ratio of palm surface area to body surface area is typically 1/200, which might also be written as 1:200, 0.005, or 0.5%[2].  The units of area will be length units squared, such as square meters (meters squared or m2). We need to be careful when converting units involving powers (squared, cubed, etc.) and the chain-link method allows us to make sure our units cancel correctly.

Example square inches to square feet.

We are going to replace the carpet in a room. Carpet is sold by the square foot, so we are trying to determine the square footage of carpet in room. We use a measuring tape and find out that the room is 148 in long by 108 in wide. Multiplying length by width we get 15,984 in2. To convert to feet we need to multiply by the conversion factor twice in order to cancel the squared unit:

    \begin{equation*} 15,984\,\bold{in^2} = 15,984\,\bold{\cancel{in}\cdot \cancel{in}}\left(\frac{1\,\bold{ft}}{12\,\bold{\cancel{in}}}\right)\left(\frac{1\,\bold{ft}}{12\,\bold{\cancel{in}}}\right) \end{equation*}

Multiplying across the top and bottom we have:

    \begin{equation*} 15,984\,\bold{in^2} = 15,984\left(\frac{1\,\bold{ft^2}}{144}\right) = 111 \,\bold{ft^2} \end{equation*}

Reinforcement Activity

Measure your palm length and width in units of cm. Then calculate your palm surface area in units of cm2. Next, calculate your approximate body surface area in units of cm2. Finally use the chain-link method to convert your body surface area to both square inches (in2) and  m2.


  1. "Thermal Injuries" by Chemical Hazards Emergency Medical Management, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services↵
  2. "The surface area of the hand and the palm for estimating percentage of total body surface area: results of a meta-analysis." by Rhodes J, Clay C, Phillips M., U.S. National Library of Medicine, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services↵

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Copyright © 2020 by Lawrence Davis. Body Physics: Motion to Metabolism by Lawrence Davis is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.
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