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Physical Science 101

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Syllabus
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Introduction to Earth Science

Fri Aug 23rd
Mon Aug 26th
Introduction:
Overview of the Course, Syllabus, Grading Policy, Classroom Etiquette, Technological Skills
 
Lecture One: Introduction to Earth Science
What is Earth Science? Earth's Spheres. Deep Time. Scales of Measurement. Earth's Systems. The Nature of Scientific Inquiry, The Scientific Method
 
Featured Rock: Granite
Book Recommendation: The Story of Earth by Robert Hansen
Chapter 1

Geology

Fri Aug 30th
Wed Aug 28th
Lecture Two: Matter and Minerals
Definition, Atomic Structure, Properties, Abundance, Mining
 
Featured Rock: Amethyst
Book Recommendation: The Elements We Live By by Anja Royne
Chapter 2
No Class Monday, September 2nd: Labor Day
Fri Aug 30th
Wed Sept 4th
Lecture Three: Rocks; Materials of the Solid Earth
The Rock Cycle, Igneous, Metamorphic, Sedimentary, Ores
 
Featured Rock: Rock Salt
Book Recommendation: The Story of the Earth in 25 Rocks by Donald Prothero
Chapter 3
Fri Sept 6th
Mon Sept 9th
Lecture Four: Plate Tectonics
Continental Drift, Plate Boundaries, Hot Spots, Mechanisms
 
Featured Rock: Blue Schist
Book Recommendation: Into the Heart of Our World by David Whitehouse
Chapter 4
Fri Sept 6th
Wed Sept 11th
Lecture Five: Earthquakes and Earth's Interior
Faults, Foreshocks and Aftershocks, Seismology, Scales, Tsunamis, Subsidence, Earth's Layers
 
Featured Rock: Fossiliferous Limestone
Book Recommendation: After the Quake by Haruki Murakami
Chapter 5
Fri Sept 13th
Mon Sept 16th
Lecture Six: Volcanoes and Other Igneous Activity
Flows, Gases and Pyroclastics, Types of Volcanoes, Volcanic Landforms, Plate Tectonics and Vulcanism
 
Featured Rocks: Scoria, Pumice
Book Recommendation: Volcano Watch by Toni Dwiggins
Chapter 6
Fri Sept 13th
Wed Sept 18th
Lecture Seven: Crustal Deformation and Mountain Building
Folds, Faults, Types of Mountain Ranges, Isostasy, Joints
 
Featured Rocks: Obsidian and Basalt
Book Recommendation: A Walk in the Park by Kevin Fedarko
Chapter 7
Fri Sept 20th
Mon Sept 23rd

Exam One (Geology)

Chapters 1 to 7
Fri Sept 20th
Wed Sept 25th
Lecture Eight: Weathering, Soil, Mass Movement
Soil Formation, Soil Classification, Soil Erosion, Mass Wasting - Controls and Triggers
 
Featured Rock: Shale
Book Recommendation: A World Without Soil by Jo Handelsman
Chapter 8
Fri Sept 27th
Mon Sept 30th
Lecture Nine: Running Water and Ground Water
The Hydrologic Cycle, River Systems, Work From Running Water, Erosion, Deposition, Floods, Groundwater: Storage and Movement of Groundwater, Springs and Wells, Contamination, Subsidence, Latitude, Longitude, Topological Maps
 
Featured Rock: Sandstone
Book Recommendation: Cadillac Desert by Marc Reisner
Chapter 9
Fri Sept 27th
Wed Oct 2nd
Lecture Ten: Glaciers, Deserts, and Wind
Glacial Erosion, Landforms, Glacial Deposits, Ice Ages, Evolution of a Desert, Dunes
 
Featured Rock: Rock Flour
Book Recommendaton: Atlas of a Lost World by Craig Childs
Chapter 10
Fri Oct 4th
Mon Oct 7th
Lecture Eleven: Geologic Time
Relative Dating, Law of Superposition, Cross-Cutting Relationships, Inclusions, Principle of Original Horizontality, Unconformities, Disconformity, Fossils, Radiometric Dating, The Geologic Timescale
 
Featured Rock: Morton Gneiss
Book Recommendation: Timefulness by Marcia Bjornerud
Chapter 11
Fri Oct 4th
Wed Oct 9th
Lecture Twelve: Evolution of Earth
What Makes Earth Habitable?, Birth of a Planet, Origin and Evolution of the Atmosphere and Oceans, Geological Timescale
 
Featured Rock: Banded Iron Formation
Book Recommendation: The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs by Steve Brusatte
Chapter 12
No Class Monday, October 14th: Indigenous Peoples' Day
Fri Oct 11th
Wed Oct 16th

Exam Two (Geology)

Chapters 8 to 12

Oceanography

Fri Oct 11th
Mon Oct 21st
Lecture Thirteen: The Ocean Floor
Mapping the Ocean Floor, Continental Margins, Deep-Ocean Basins, Oceanic Ridge System
 
Featured Rock: Limestone
Book Recommendation: The Bathysphere Book by Brad Fox
Chapter 13
Fri Oct 18th
Wed Oct 23rd
Lecture Fourteen: Ocean Water and Ocean Life
Composition of Sea Water, Variations in Temperature and Density, Ocean Life, Ocean Productivity
 
Featured Rock: Coral
Book Recommendation: Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt
Chapter 14
Fri Oct 18th
Mon Oct 28th
Lecture Fifteen: The Dynamic Ocean
Ocean Circulation, Ocean Waves, Coastal Features
 
Featured Rock: Sandstone
Book Recommendation: The Wave by Susan Casey
Chapter 15

Meteorology

Fri Oct 25th
Wed Oct 30th
Lecture Sixteen: The Atmosphere; Composition, Structure and Temperature
Weather and Climate, Height and Structure of the Atmosphere, Ozone Hole, Greenhouse Effect, Earth-Sun Relationships, Mechanisms of Heat Transfer, Cloud Cover and Albedo, Electromagnetic Spectrum
 
Book Recommendation: Treading on Thin Air by Elizabeth Austin
Chapter 16
Fri Oct 25th
Mon Nov 4th
Lecture Seventeen: Moisture, Clouds and Precipitation
Phase Changes of Water, Relative and Absolute Humidity, Dew Point, Stability and Instabilty of Air Masses, Classification of Cloud Types, Precipitation
 
Book Recommendation: A Cloud a Day by Gavin Pretor-Pinney
Chapter 17
Fri Nov 1st
Wed Nov 6th
Lecture Eighteen: Air Pressure and Wind
Measuring Air Pressure, Idealized Global Circulation, Jet Streams, Local Winds, Land and Sea Breezes
 
Book Recommendation: Braving the Elements by David Laskin
Chapter 18
No Class Monday, November 11th: Vetrans Day
Fri Nov 8th
Wed Nov 13th
Lecture Nineteen: Weather Patterns and Severe Storms
Types of Air Masses, Fronts, Cyclones and Anti-cyclones
 
Book Recommendation: Isaac's Storm by Erik Larson
Chapter 19
Fri Nov 8th
Mon Nov 18th
Lecture Nineteen (cont.): Weather Patterns and Severe Storms
Severe Storms: Thunderstorms, Tornados, Hurricanes
 
Book Recommendation: Come Hell or High Water by Michael Eric Dyson
Chapter 19
November 15th Last Day to Drop
Fri Nov 15th
Wed Nov 20th
Lecture Twenty: World Climates and Global Climate Change
What is Climate, Types of Climates, Past and Future Climate, What Causes Climate to Change
 
Featured Rock: Coal
Book Recommendation: Nomad Century by Gaia Vince
Chapter 20
Fri Nov 15th
Mon Nov 25th
Lecture Twenty (cont.): World Climates and Global Climate Change
Human Impact on Global Climate, Climate Feedback Mechanisms, Rate of Climate Change, Climate Adaptation
 
Book Recommendation: Fire Weather by John Vaillant
Chapter 20
Fri Nov 22nd
Wed Nov 27th

Exam Three (Oceanography, Meteorology)

Chapters 13 to 20

Astronomy

Fri Nov 22nd
Mon Dec 2nd
Lecture Twenty-One: Origin of Modern Astronomy
Early Greeks, Ptolemaic System, Copernican System, Kepler's Laws, Galileo, Constellations, Rotation, Revolution, Precession, Phases of the Moon
 
Book Recommendation: Bad Astronomy by Philip Plait
Chapter 21
No Class Thursday & Friday, November 28th & 29th: Thanksgiving
Fri Dec 6th
Wed Dec 4th
Lecture Twenty-Two: Touring Our Solar System
Terrestrial Planets, Jovian Planets, The Moon, Asteroids, Comets, Meteoroids
 
Lecture Twenty-Three: Light, Telescopes and the Sun
Nature of Light, Spectroscopy, Doppler Effect, Telescopes, Structure and Composition of the Sun
 
Book Recommendation: Our Moon by Rebecca Boyle
Featured Rock: Meteorite
Chapter 22 & 23
Fri Dec 6th
Mon Dec 9th
Lecture Twenty-Four: Beyond the Solar System
Stellar Brightness, Hertzsprung-Russell Diagram, Variable Stars, Interstellar Matter, Stellar Evolution
 
Book Recommendation: Starry Messenger by Neil deGrasse Tyson
Chapter 24
Fri Dec 13th
Wed Dec 11th

Departmental Final Exam

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