General Education Program
Extended Course Description

Course Content: This course studies selected topics from classical and modern physics. Emphasis is placed on concepts that have direct applications to our everyday experience. We consider such questions as: What laws govern the motions of golf balls, raindrops, gymnasts, airplanes, and other objects of common experience? How does energy serve as a unifying concept throughout the various branches of science? How can radar, radio, radiant heat, visible light, and X-rays all be different aspects of the same physical entity? How can two waves at the same place at the same time have the possibility of producing no wave at all? How do we know anything about atoms when we can't see them? What is the meaning of Einstein's famous equation E = mc²?

Methods of Learning: The course uses lecture, demonstration, discussion, and independent reading of the text to introduce the definitions, relationships, and theories that organize our understanding of the physical world. Applying physical concepts and theories to solve problems provides experience in deductive reasoning. Preparing, performing, and analyzing laboratory experiments provide experience in inductive reasoning.

Course Requirements: There are three to five examinations and a comprehensive final examination. Some of the questions will involve writing short explanations or descriptions. Additionally, there may be weekly quizzes. Students submit short reports on 8 to 10 laboratory experiments.

Benefit to the Student: The student will better understand many phenomena of common experience, will be better able to act as an informed citizen concerning matters of public policy that have scientific content, and will improve skills in careful observation, logical reasoning, and problem solving.

(Revised: November 1996)

College Catalog Home Page · Registrar Home Page