Photo courtesy: NASA.
| Physics 305G is a survey course on the search for water in our Solar System. We will cover many topics which will include nuclear synthesis; Solar System formation; planet accretion, formation, composition and evolution; elemental abundance; chemical bonding; spectroscopy; remote sensing; the habitable zone; as well as past, present and future NASA search missions for water. The students will learn how to integrate concepts from physics, astronomy, chemistry, biology and geology in order to study the abundance of water in the Solar System. | Photo courtesy: NASA. |
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Syllabus
Instructors Homework There will be a homework assigned weekly and will be due and turned in 1 week after it is assigned as shown in the schedule. About one-half of the homework assignments will be comprised of reading a short article and writing a (less than) 1-page summary. The written summaries will be graded based on a rubric (see Homework Rubric). The rest of the homework assignments will include short conceptual and quantitative problems on the material covered in class. Required Reading Text: Harry Y. McSween, Stardust to Planets: A Geological Tour of the Solar System, St. Martins Griffin, 1993. ISBN: 0-312-13188-7. Additional reading will be required outside of the assigned textbook and will be handed out in class or can be retrieved with a password. Group Research Project & Presentation click here for group assignments This semester you will be responsible for an individual research paper. Groups of 3-4 students will be formed around a central theme so that they can more easily communicate with each other in their groups, but each student will be responsible for a written report as well as oral report that they will give with their group. A list of possible topics will be discussed during class. Each student will turn in an individual report based on their group project at the end of the semester and be graded using a rubric (see Individual Research Paper Rubric). The research paper needs to be 6-8 pages in length including references (e.g., books, journal articles, etc.). References must include at least 5 science journal articles. Some examples of acceptable journals are (NOTE: this is not a full list): Science, Nature, Journal of Geophysical Research, Icarus, Astrophysical Journal, Earth and Planetary Science Letters and so on. Each group will give a 10-minute oral presentation with each group member speaking for ~3 minutes. The oral presentations will be given during the scheduled Final Exam time (Monday, May 5th 8-10am). The paper will be due on the final day of classes, May 2, 2008. Each group will review themselves in regards to their group contributions, while the presentations will be peer reviewed by each student in the class. To help you organize your research paper, you will be asked to turn in portions of your research project during the semester. You will be responsible for turning in a 1-page research proposal or outline during lecture 9 (Wednesday, February 6th) that will be peer reviewed by the other members of your group. In addition, a draft of your research paper will be due during lecture 25 (Friday, March 14th) followed by another peer review. Lecture Notes The lecture notes are available for download here. Exam solutions Midterm 1 Midterm 2 |