Physics 367
Energy in a Modern Society
General Information

Staff:

Prof. Harris Kagan    Dr. Tom Barrett
2083 Smith Lab 5059 Smith Lab
292-7331 292-8065
kagan@mps.ohio-state.edu barrett@mps.ohio-state.edu

Course Design:

This course stresses the use of science in a modern society. The course focuses on four topics: energy and fossil resources for energy; environmental problems of energy generation; nuclear energy; and energy alternatives. The first three topics mesh together seamlessly; the fourth topic grows out of their discussion. The textbook for the course is Energy by G. Aubrecht which is supplemented by readings from Scientific American.

This course is designed as a second reading course in the Physics Department. As such it focuses on the following skills: scientific reasoning, problem solving, outlining, summarizing, and presentation (oral and written).

The course is organized in the following fashion:
16 lectures ~2 lectures/week   M, Tu, W
5 help days   2nd, 4th and 7th weeks
10 presentation days   3rd and 5th/6th week
1 test day/week   F
10 final presentation days   last 3 wks of the quarter


The web site for the course is: http://www.physics.ohio-state.edu/~kagan/phy367.

Lectures:

TThe material discussed in the lectures is listed below. Each lecture is organized around the corresponding chapter of Energy with the same (or similar) title. You are responsible for all the material in the chapter whether or not it is covered in the lecture:
Lecture   Chapter   Topic(s) considered
I   1, 2   Introduction - Problems, limits and estimates
II   3, 4   Energy, How we use energy
III   5   Consumption of electrical energy
IV   8   Production and distribution of electrical energy
V   6   Atoms and chemical energy
VI   7   Chemical energy and energy generation
VII   7   Thermodynamics
VIII   7   Thermodynamics
IX   13   Environmental effects of utilities
X   14   Pollution from fossil fuels
XI   18   Nuclear energy
XII   19   Energy from nuclear reactions
XIII   20   Safety and nuclear energy
XIV   15   Moving down the road - effects of transportation
XV   9   Conservation
XVI   25,11   Energy storage and energy alternatives, Recycling and reuse

Presentations:

During presentation days, students will present reports on one of the topics listed below. For these presentations three students will form a group to present on a single topic. Each three-person group will be given roughly 21 minutes for the entire topic. In this case each member of the group should cover roughly 1/3 of the material of the topic in a 7 minute talk. Each student will present on two topics during the quarter. As part of the work for the presentation, each group of three (3) students is required to turn in one (1) sentence outline of the full topic. Each student is also required to turn in a 1 page summary of their talk. The presentation, the outline and the summary will be graded. The topics listed below form an integral part of the course. In most cases, this material will only be covered in the presentations:
Presentation Topic(s) considered  
1 Resources - World Coal Production
2   - World Oil Production
3   - World Gas Production
4   - Hydroelectric Power
5   - Wind Power
6   - Solar Power
7   - Geothermal Power
8 Pollution - Acid Rain
9   - Ozone Depletion
10   - The Greenhouse Effect
11 Conservation and Self Sufficiency - Population
12   - Water
13   - Agriculture
14   - Nuclear Waste
15   - Hydrogen
16   - Fuel Cells
17   - Mass Transit
18   - Personal Transit
19   - Energy Efficient Buildings
20   - Indoor Air Pollution

Meeting Days:

Meeting days allow students to discuss their work with each other and with the Instructor/TA. Each student is required to meet with either the instructor or the TA to discuss their presentation before they present their work to the class. For this meeting, students should come prepared with all the materials to give a practice presentation.

Test Days:

In addition to lectures, presentation and meeting days there is one test day per week. The weekly test will consist of 10 questions from the material of that week. The test will be graded on a P/F basis. To pass you must get 8/10 of the questions correct. You may take the weekly test up to three times, each time you will receive a different set of questions covering the same material. After three tries, you must speak to the instructor before being given additional retakes. You may retake a weekly test on any subsequent test day.