INTEGRATIVE STUDIES: PHYSICAL SCIENCE 205

VISIONS OF THE UNIVERSE

COURSE INFORMATION:   Section 3,   Spring 2003,   Prof. Stein

PLACE: 1410 BioMedical Physical Sciences Building (BPS)

INSTRUCTOR: Prof. Robert Stein,   3266 BPS Bldg,   355-9200 X2413,   steinr@msu.edu

TEXT: Voyages Through the Universe (Second Edition) by Fraknoi, Morrison & Wolf.

WEB PAGE:  http://www.pa.msu.edu/courses/ISP205/sec-3/

HELP: Help will be provided in the classroom by the TA and myself after class, by me during office hours in my office, and via email. Email will be answered every day, Monday through Friday. Answers to questions of general interest will be posted on the Web in a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) file (preserving the anonymity of the person asking the question).

Course information, syllabus, outline, homework assignments and answers to homework, quizzes and exams are provided via http://www.pa.msu.edu/courses/ISP205/sec-3/, the course world wide web page.

OFFICE HOURS

        Monday     3:00-5:00 pm
        Wednesday  5:00-6:30 pm
        Other times by appointment.

BASIS OF GRADE: You are responsible for knowing all the material presented in class and the relevant material in the text. Grades will be determined by performance on a final exam, three midterm exams, in-class activities, in-class assignments, and homework. Exams will test both memorization and the ability to deduce results from an understanding of the physical principles that determine the behavior of astronomical objects. The exams will consist of a mixture of multiple choice, short answer and essay length questions. No makeup exams will be given. The lowest exam score (of the four exams) will be dropped. If you are satisfied with your grade at the end of classes you do not need to take the final exam, which will be comprehensive. The three highest exams each count for 25% of the grade, and the in-class activities and homework together count for 25% of the grade. No opportunities for individual extra credit will be offered.

Beyond earning a grade you can be proud of, improving your personal skills and changing your world view will require effort on your part. I recommend, at a minimum, that you read the outline on the web and the assigned chapter(s) before each lecture, attend class, and do the homework assignments.

The book provides general background material that I will expand upon with current discoveries, as well as detail that we will not delve into. How do you tell the difference? Before a topic is discussed in class, you should quickly read the relevant chapters in the text, perhaps writing your own outline of only the important ideas and facts. After the lecture, you should go back through the text to pick out the subjects covered in class and read only those sections carefully.

The syllabi list reading assignments for each class by chapter and section. They also give objectives for each unit that specify what you are expected to know for the exams. Together with the outline I provide on the web, they are a guide to what you should study. Homework assignments and the occasional in-class activity will provide opportunities for you to develop your skills. I encourage you to discuss these with your classmates. It is helpful for you (and me too!) to ask questions about anything that is confusing or unclear, either in class, after class, via email, or in my office.

      First Midterm Exam     Wednesday,   February 5, in class
      Second Midterm Exam    Wednesday,   March 19,   in class
      Third Midterm Exam     Wednesday,   April 23,   in class

      FINAL EXAM      Wednesday,    April 30,  8-10 pm,  Room N100 
                                               Eli Broad Business College

We will be going backwards through the text book, starting with the Universe as a whole and ending with the current night sky. The reasons for this are: First, the most exciting discoveries in the last four years have been in our knowledge about the universe as a whole. Second, there is more of a chance of clear skies in April than in January. This will require some jumping around in the text book to learn some basic astronomy and physics that is explained earlier in the book.

The course is organized into four units around four problems:

1. The Universe: How did the it begin and how will it end?
   How can we learn anything about the universe? How old is the universe? How has the universe evolved over time? What is the universe composed of? Where did the largest objects in the universe, galaxies and clusters of galaxies, come from? What is gravity and how does it work? What is theory, what is a model and what is fact? How does science make progress?

2. The Stars: What is the life cycle of a star and what determines its development?
   How can we learn anything about stars? How are stars born? How do stars live and die? What is the source of energy that we get from the Sun? What is the ultimate fate of the Sun and the solar system?

3. The Planets: Is Earth unique? How did the solar system form?
   What makes the temperature of the Earth comfortable for living things? How does the Earth compare with the other planets in the solar system? How does the the solar system compare with other planetary systems around other stars?

4. The Sky: How do the Sun, Moon and planets move and what makes them move that way?
   How does the appearance of the sky change with the seasons? What is a good model of the solar system?

PLANETARIUM: There will be a visit to the planetarium later in the semester.

LABORATORY: Registration in ISP205L, the Astronomy Laboratory, is optional and is an entirely separate course. However, we have found that students generally do better in ISP205 if they take the laboratory at the same time. Laboratories start Monday, January 13.

Updated: 2003.04.07 (Monday) 17:59:52 EDT

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