Biological Physics: Courses with Conservation Content in the Field of Physics

As a campus with a conservation tagline, UNNES ensures that every Study Program supports this policy by inserting conservation content in its curriculum. Biological Physics is one of the courses in the Physics Study Program that accommodates this. This course is given to build student competency in mastering basic physics concepts and their applications to explain biological processes that occur in living things.
Like other courses, in this Biological Physics course students are also invited to understand the application of physics concepts through a project. One of the projects is to invite students to recognize and analyze physical phenomena through observing the color of flowers or leaves from several plant vegetation around the UNNES campus.

Students analyze the color of flowers/leaves using color sensors embedded in cellphones with the help of the RGB Color detector application. The application can be downloaded for free on PlayStore. The quantitative data obtained was then analyzed further by each student as material for discussion.

The results of observation data analysis show that the color spectrum of various types of flowers/leaves always converges on a certain color value. This is because the water content in the flowers or leaves decreases over time and lighting conditions.

This technique can be used to evaluate the condition of leaves or flowers in a state of excess or lack of water so that it can be used as a consideration for effective watering. Furthermore, this technique can also be used to evaluate the condition of plants, whether they are healthy or not. With this project, it is hoped that students will increase their awareness of nature conservation starting from their immediate environment.