Physics, broadly the study of motion and interaction in nature, captivates as much as it bemuses. As a centuries old “hot topic,” physics today is filled with thriving research in quantum information, cosmology, planetary astrophysics, nonlinear dynamics, and countless others subfields. Yet the subject is often cloaked with inaccessible jargon, with the big picture ideas obscured behind seemingly insurmountable prerequisites and confounding pseudoscience. In this class, we qualitatively summarize the broad and vibrant landscape of physics as it is today.
Though the course will contain some mathematical asides for completeness, students will only be expected to understand the physics at a qualitative, conceptual level. In general, this course will emphasize broad concepts and large results with little regard for mathematical detail. As such, this class should be accessible to all students of any year and major. Though there are no enrollment restrictions, physics majors (especially upper division students) are slightly discouraged from taking this course as it will generally reiterate concepts from the standard physics curriculum.
The course meets twice a week, once for lecture (Monday 6-7:30 pm PDT, starting 07 September 2020) and once for section, either on Wednesday 12-1:00 pm PDT or Thursday 6-7 pm PDT, with section assignments to be determined at the beginning of the course. Lectures are asynchronous (will be recorded). Coursework comprises of short weekly problem sets and a crystallizing final paper.
Syllabus: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1mCon5z1lcBfbzChTZJKZTxwTHvIg3e7o/view?usp=sharing
Section | Facilitator | Size | Location | Time | Starts | Status | CCN(LD) | CCN(UD) |
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Lecture | Yonna Kim, Shishir Dholakia, Shashank Dholakia, Orion Ning | __ | zoom | [M] 6:00PM-7:30PM | week of 09/07/2020 | Open | -- | -- |
Discussion | Yonna Kim, Shashank Dholakia | __ | zoom | [Th] 6:00PM-7:00PM | week of 09/07/2020 | Open | -- | -- |
Discussion | Shishir Dholakia, Orion Ning | __ | zoom | [W] 12:00PM-1:00PM | week of 09/07/2020 | Open | -- | -- |
Name | Download Link | ||
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Syllabus | Download |