syllabus

Schedule and Assignments (coming)

Week 0: Jan. 19 - Jan. 23

• Intro Class on Wednesday Jan. 12st @ 11:30am
• First Class on Friday Jan. 23rd @ 11:30am

Week 1: Jan. 26 - Jan. 30

• Topic: Greek physics and astronomy, Ptolemy's theory.
• Reading: Chapter 1 -- Greek Astronomy
• Homework 1 due (See 'assignments' in left navigation bar for specific assignments)
• Chapter 1 Datafile

Week 2: Feb. 2 - Feb. 6

• Topic: The Copernican Solar System
• Reading: Chapter 2 -- The Copernican Revolution
• Homework 2 due

Week 3: Feb. 9 - Feb. 13

• Topic: Newton's theory of universal gravitation
• Reading: Chapter 3
• Homework 3 due

Week 4: Feb. 16 - Feb. 20

• Topic: Rotation
• Reading: Chapter 4
• Homework 4 due

Week 5: Feb. 23 - Feb. 27

• Topic: Rotation continued
• Reading: Understanding Physics -- Chapters 11 and 12.
• Homework 5 due

Week 6: Mar. 2 - Mar. 6

• Topic: Applications of Newtonian gravitation
• Reading: Chapter 5
• Homework 6 due

Week 7: Mar. 9 - Mar. 13

• Topic: Chapter 5 continued.
• Reading: Chapter 5
• Homework 7 due

SPRING BREAK from Mar. 14 - Mar. 29

Week 8: Mar. 30 - Apr. 3

• Topic: Numerical Solutions of DEs
• Reading: Chapter 6
• Homework 8 due

Week 9: Apr. 6 - Apr. 10

• Topic: Numerical Solutions of DEs continued. Playing with your gravity simulator.
• Reading: Chapter 6
• Hubble Images of Colliding Galaxies.
• Java Applet for interacting galaxies
• Other Astronomical Java Applets
• And yet more applets

• Homework 9 due Friday.

Week 10: Apr. 13 - Apr. 17

• Topic: Thermo 1
• Reading: Understanding Physics Part II 1st chapter on Thermo.
• Homework 10 due

Week 11: Apr. 20 - Apr. 24

• Topic: TBD
• Reading:
• Homework 11 due

Week 12: Apr. 27 - May 1

• Topic: TBD
• Reading: UP Ch. 9
• Homework 12 due

Week 13: May 4 - May 8

• Final class meeting on Wednesday
• Topic: Catch-up and Wrap-up
• Reading Days Thursday and Friday

Finals Period: May 9 - May 12

• Final exam TBA