In general, I am on campus all day every day except Wednesday afternoons, when I am usually in Oxford.  Please feel free to come to see me anytime I am in the office not just during office hours. If you wish, you may make an appointment to be sure that I am there.

Catalog Description: The application of physics principles and models to societal uses of energy. Includes mechanics, electricity and magnetism, thermodynamics, and atomic and nuclear physics. Energy topics include resources, environmental problems, global atmospheric challenges, nuclear power, solar energy, alternative energy systems, and energy conservation. Algebraic skills are required but no previous course in physics is needed.

Text:  Energy: Principles, Problems, Alternatives, Fifth Edition, Joseph Priest, Kendall/Hunt Publishing Co., 2000.

Supplemental Readings: Current articles of relevance from magazines and journals will be distributed or assigned.

Target Audience: PHY 121 is designed to meet the Miami Plan Natural Science requirement. It is directed primarily toward students with non-science majors who have an interest in learning about both the contemporary and historical roles that energy plays in the global technological society.

Course Purpose, Goals and Objectives:   Energy and the Environment is a course designed to achieve several major goals. Number one is to provide students with a level of scientific literacy that allows them to appreciate the quantitative model building paradigm often referred to as the scientific method. A second goal is to teach students to think critically, in the sense of analysis and synthesis, about important global and societal concerns. Another goal is to provide a historical perspective on how scientific thought and action impact and are impacted upon by society. Finally this course should provide both the scientific and mathematical skills for students to become educated and informed citizens of the global society.

Exams: Tentative dates for the hour exams are given on the attached schedule. You will be notified as soon as possible if the date is to be changed. Exams may be made up only if I am notified before the exam is given. Make-up exams must be taken within one week following the original exam. Academic dishonesty of any kind will be reported immediately and will probably result in an F in the course.

Attendance: In accordance with Miami University policies, you are expected to attend class. Roll will be taken. If you do miss a class, you are responsible for finding out what you missed. Lectures are intended to clarify and expand the text - not repeat it. Thus, reading the text is not a substitute for attending class. Participation points lost due to absences cannot be made up.

Class Participation: Every student is expected to prepare for class by reading the text assignment and to participate in class by asking questions and joining in class discussions. Often part of class will be spent in small group discussions on societal issues and decision making or on the homework exercises. Each person will participate in one major group project near the end of the semester in which you will be asked to do library research on a topic then write a paper and make a presentation to the class.

Homework: The textbook has questions and problems at the end of each chapter. Some of these will be assigned for most class days. Although I will not take up the homework, we will often discuss the questions in class, so you need to do them in order to be prepared for the discussion. You will also find that doing the assigned questions will be good preparation for the exams.  In addition, there is a set of review questions at the end of each chapter.  You should go over all the review questions either as you finish reading the chapter or as you study for the exam (or both).

Grading: