Tuesday, Thursday, 2:40-4:00PM, Room 158 Natural Resources Bldg.
The Integrative Studies courses are intended to illustrate and explore the methods, results, and limitations of scientific inquiry. ISP 205 uses astronomy as the science example. It takes non-science majors through an outline of what we do (and don’t) know about the universe on size scales from planets on up, and of what sorts of thinking has led us to these concepts. Major topics will include the scientific method, the laws of physics (and what happens when you break them), the solar system, how stars work, galaxies, and cosmology (the overall structure and evolution of the universe). Simple algebraic equations will be used.
Instructor: Jack Baldwin, Room 3270 BioMedical & Physical Sciences Bldg. (BMP),
Phone 355-9200, ext. 2411 (baldwin@pa.msu.edu)
Office hours: 1-3 Monday, 10-12 Thursday, or by appointment.
Teaching Assistant: John Foehr, foehrjoh@msu.edu, office hour to be announced.
Text: “THE ESSENTIAL COSMIC PERSPECTIVE (3RD EDITION)” by Bennett, Donahue, Schneider & Voit.
Web site: http://www.pa.msu.edu/courses/isp205/sec-3/ contains a copy of this syllabus and will hold announcements, grade curves, etc in the future.
Homework. Homework assignments will be announced in class from time
to time. You will complete them using the web-based ANGEL system (angel.msu.edu). Log in with your MSU NetID and
password, and click on “My Angel Courses”. I do not accept late homework
assignments.
Midterms: 3 Midterms, each for the full class period. Tentatively
scheduled for Sept. 21, Oct. 14 and Nov. 9.
Final exam: This will be held at the assigned place and time for this course. Tentatively, the time is Monday, Dec 13, 8-10PM, but it is up to you to double check later in the semester, at the official MSU web site (WARNING: be sure to use the COMMON FINAL EXAM SCHEDULE, which appears at the bottom of the web page). About half of the questions will be from the material covered after the third midterm, but the other half will cover the rest (first 3 parts) of the course.
Extra Credit. From time to time there will be a 1-point extra credit question asked during class. These will be open-notebook, short answer questions. The goal is to encourage you to attend classes and to take decent notes. Each extra credit point will count the same as one point on a midterm exam, and will just be added to your total number of midterm exam points when I compute your final grade.
Grading system: Homework:
10%. Each midterm: 20%. Final exam: 30%. The
final course grade will then be based on a to-be-determined curve. But the
following grade scale is guaranteed:
0.0 - 0.0% to 47.5%, 1.0 - 47.5% to 55.0%, 1.5 - 55.0% to 62.0%, 2.0 - 62.0% to
68.0%, 2.5 - 68.0% to 76.0%, 3.0 - 76.0% to 83.0%, 3.5 - 83.0% to 90.0%, 4.0 -
90.0% and above.
The actual scale may be curved from these values, but it
will not be raised. For example, you are guaranteed to get a 4.0 if your score
is above 90%, no matter what.
This schedule is subject to change.
Chapter numbers from the text are indicated in square brackets…. [8] means the material is covered in chapter 8 of the textbook, [2.4] means it is covered in section 2.4, etc. The midterms and final will be on the material actually covered in the lectures, but the lectures usually will be on material found in the book.
1. Background: The Laws of Physics.
Aug
31, Sept. 2. The size of the
Universe. [1] The scientific method, “laws” in physics, [3.4]. The laws of motion: Epicycles [2.4];
Ptolemy, Copernicus [3]
Sept
7,9. The laws of motion: Kepler [3];
Sept
14,16. Radiation and spectra.
Telescopes [5]
Sept 21. MIDTERM
2.
The Solar System: Exploring the Planets.
Sept
23. The solar system [6.1].
Sept
28,30. Earth as a planet, The Moon,
Mercury, Venus, Mars [7].
Oct
5,7. The giant planets (Jupiter,
Saturn, Uranus, Neptune). Moons and rings [8].
Oct.
12. Comets, asteroids and Pluto [9].
The origin of the Solar System [6.2è6.4].
Oct 14. MIDTERM
3.
How Stars Work, and Where the Chemical Elements Came From.
Oct. 19,21. The Sun: an example of a star [10].
Oct. 26,28. The surface of the sun [10]. Analyzing starlight, the types of stars [11]. The evolution and death of stars [12,13].
Nov.
2,4 The birth of stars & the
search for planets [12]. Search for life elsewhere [18, 6.5]. Our Galaxy (the Milky Way) [14.1,14.2].
Nov
9. MIDTERM
4.
The Universe: Where Did It Come From & Where Is It Going?
Nov 11.
Other galaxies, evolution of
galaxies[15.1,15.2,15.3,14.3
Nov
16,18. Quasars and active galaxies [15.4,14.4]. Black holes [13.3]
Nov
23. Cosmology… the nature and evolution of the universe [16,17].
Nov.
25 THANKSGIVING
Nov.
30, Dec. 2 More cosmology.
Dec
7,9. Finish up cosmology.
Review.