PHYSICS C187A · PHYS C187ABiological Physics I: Life at Rest
Physics · 4 units · Undergraduate upper division (100-199)
Equilibrium phenomena. Application of basic mechanics, optics, and thermodynamics to biological design: structure of skeleton, scaling of bone and muscle mass, swim bladders, and animal vision. Application of elementary statistical physics, electrostatics, and elasticity to structure of proteins, DNA, and biomembranes. Concurrently scheduled with course C287A.
P/NP or letter grading.
When it runs
- Winter 2026
Scheduled, not typical — from UCLA’s Schedule of Classes, which publishes Fall 2025 through Spring 2027 and nothing before it.
Requisites
Official UCLA wording
Enforced requisites: courses 105A, 110A, 115A, Chemistry 110A, Molecular, Cell, and Developmental Biology 100 (or M140 or 165A).
BruinTree reads · Prerequisite
confidence 1.00 · from textRequires
Everything that has to come before this course, not just the courses named in the requisite above.
PHYSICS C187A
- PHYSICS 105AAnalytic Mechanics
- PHYSICS 110AElectricity and Magnetism
- PHYSICS 1APhysics for Scientists and Engineers: Mechanics
- MATH 3COrdinary Differential Equations with Linear Algebra for Life Sciences Students
- MATH 3BCalculus for Life Sciences Students
- PHYSICS 1BPhysics for Scientists and Engineers: Oscillations, Waves, Electric and Magnetic Fields1 more beneath
- PHYSICS 1BHPhysics for Scientists and Engineers: Oscillations, Waves, Electric and Magnetic Fields (Honors)2 more beneath
- CHEM 14AGeneral Chemistry for Life Scientists I
- LIFESCI 30AMathematics for Life Scientists
- PHYSICS 1CPhysics for Scientists and Engineers: Electrodynamics, Optics, and Special Relativity2 more beneath
- PHYSICS 1BPhysics for Scientists and Engineers: Oscillations, Waves, Electric and Magnetic Fieldsanother path to it
- PHYSICS 1CHPhysics for Scientists and Engineers: Electrodynamics, Optics, and Special Relativity (Honors)2 more beneath
- PHYSICS 115AQuantum Mechanics
- PHYSICS 17Modern Physics
- PHYSICS 1BPhysics for Scientists and Engineers: Oscillations, Waves, Electric and Magnetic Fieldsanother path to it
- MCD BIO 100Introduction to Cell Biology
- LIFESCI 7ACell and Molecular Biology
- LIFESCI 7BGenetics, Evolution, and Ecology
- LIFESCI 7CPhysiology and Human Biology
- MCD BIO M140Cancer Cell Biology
- MCD BIO 165ABiology of Cells
7 direct requisites. Showing 60 courses over 3 levels; the branches marked with a count carry on past it. Every course here opens its own tree.
Unlocks
What this course is a requisite for, and what those courses lead to in turn.
PHYSICS C187A
- PHYSICS C187BBiological Physics II: Life in Motion
1 course lists this as a requisite. The whole downstream is here — 1 course over 1 level. Every course here opens its own tree.