Office: 203B Bell Bldg. Send me a |
Text: Energy, third edition, by Hinrichs and Kleinbach. This course is the physics contribution to the science core for the Environmental Masters Program. It is intended to give students from diverse backgrounds a grasp of the science of energy production, distribution, and use. It will give you a firm background in the science of energy and its profound impact on our culture and environment. The approach will consist of lecture, discussion, oral and written presentations, and laboratory exercises. I also expect we will take two or three field trips to facilities relevant to our class. The basic scientific laws and description of energy will be examined in the context of real systems for production, storage, distribution and use. Students will gain understanding of energy and methods of production. They will enhance their ability to present technical and non-technical arguments relating to energy through written and oral reports.
If you have a question, please ask it. If you have a comment, please make it. Even an anonymous note under my door or in my mailbox is fine. Communication is the essence of the classroom experience. I am pleased to see you any time you can find me.
You should be comfortable with college-level math and graphical representation of information. The class has a very diverse academic background. I do not assume a significant physics background.
I expect you to have studied the relevant material for each day. Assume that I may give you a short quiz at any time to help motivate you to be prepared for class. The best advice I can give you is come to every class, participate, take good notes, read the book, do the problems and keep up. The most common, and perhaps the deadliest habit is to postpone your assault of the material.
Attendance is important. In general I believe that absence is its own punishment, that is, you miss things you can't possibly get by going over the text or a classmate's notes. If you must be absent, you are responsible for material covered that day. Contact one of your classmates for the notes. Their notes will probably be more useful to you than a copy of mine. Failure to attend class on the day an assignment is assigned or due does not mean that you may turn in a late assignment without penalty.
A key word in education is RESPONSIBILITY. I have responsibilities as the instructor. You have responsibilities to yourself, me, and the class. One responsibility is to be in class every day and be there on time. As a student it is your job. Another is to read the day's reading before class. Also please do not think it is my job or my responsibility to teach you. IT IS NOT. It is my job to create an environment and to create situations in which you can teach yourself. This course is organized by the above goals and objectives in order to achieve this end. The goal of education is to empower the individual student to be self-taught. I can't really do this for you, but I can help a lot.
Assignments are due at the beginning of class on the assigned day. Late assignments may be accepted (at my whim), but will ordinarily be penalized substantially. No credit will be given for late assignments if the solutions have been worked or discussed extensively in class.
Neatness counts. Out of class assignments (homework and labs) are to be done in a manner suitable to graduate study.
We will have one exam plus the final exam. My exams tend to have problems, graphs, sketches, and explanations. I generally do not have multiple choice or true/false questions. If you question your score on an exam you must bring it to my attention within 24 hours after the graded exams were handed out in class.
I assign letter grades to exams when I return them to you. I encourage you to see me at any time for my assessment of your work. Below are the relative weights of the pieces of your semester grade.
Homework, Quizzes, and Lab exercises 25%