Dr. Phil's Home · Last Update: 20 November 2009 Friday.

PHYS-1060 (2) 3:30-4:45pm

Introduction to Stars and Galaxies (3 credits)

WMU Fall 2009 Semester

--Tu--Th-- 3:30-4:45pm · 1104 Rood Hall

Registration CRN Numbers:

CRN: 40353 - PHYS-1060 - 100

Office Hours (Current) · Syllabus (Current**) · Physics Help Room (0077 Rood, starts Monday 14 September 2009) · Topic 1 Assignment (Your Choice: Book or Movie***)

** -- Minor Correction to page 2 of Syllabus 10-12-2009. MAJOR Correction to Final Exam Times on Syllabus as noted below 11-20-2009.

*** -- Add some tags for Book or Movie Lists in the HTML Searchable pages 10-22-2009.

Please note that we are using the 5th edition only for Fall 2009:

The Essential Cosmic Perspective, 5th ed., by Bennett, Donahue, Schneider and Voit.

SPECIAL NOTE: About one-quarter of the PHYS-1060 students are not registered for the lab...

If you are trying to get General Education Area VI credit for a laboratory science class, you must sign up for the PHYS-1050 lab. Even if you think you don't require the lab, you may find that taking PHYS-1050 will greatly enhance what you are learning in PHYS-1060. (There's a reason why we have laboratory science classes!)

Lost and Found items, look here

Dr. Phil's Physics Class on Facebook. (If you have registered for the course, you can join the Facebook group now.)

Current Quiz Grades (Q1-Q6)

If you missed Exam 2 on Tuesday 27 October 2009, see Dr. Phil

Mid-Term Grades have been submitted on the Registrar's website. You should be able to view your estimated grade via GoWMU.

NOTE: So far we have 6 quiz grades and 2 exam grades. All other parts of the course grades are estimated based on those numbers. So the grade is definitely very sketchy -- that's why it's called an estimated grade. You can view a breakdown of your estimated Mid-Term Grade by category here.

IMPORTANT CHANGE:

Our correct Final Exam time is Tuesday 15 December 2009 from 12:30 to 2:30pm in 1104 Rood.

Please correct your calendars, notes, syllabus as needed.

This Week in PHYS-1060 at 3:30pm.

PHYS-1060 Link Salad Page.

PHYS-1060 In Class Notes Page Unit 4 (.PDF) Unit 3 Unit 2 Unit 1

Quiz 1 was an in-class attendance exercise. If you were not here on Thursday 10 September 2009 or did not otherwise fill out Quiz 1, you may download Quiz 1A here, print it, and turn it in to Dr. Phil.

Quiz 9 is a Take-Home handed out Tuesday 17 November 2009, and due Tuesday 24 November 2009, at Exam 3 or by 5pm. (Click here for a copy.) This is the last regular quiz for the semester.

If turning in a quiz when I am not around, turn into the Physics Dept. Office, 1st floor Everett Tower. Do not try to slip under my door or attach to door or bulletin board -- I won't know when you did so and the "prevailing winds" inside Everett Tower mean that papers can blow out from under my door and end up lost in the stairwell.

NOTE: Dr. Phil will have Special Online Office Hours on Tuesday and Wednesday, 9-11pm over on the Facebook group.

Sample Exam 1: First set here (9/22/2009 Tu); Second set here (9/24/2009 Th);

Sample Exam 1 First Set Answers: 1-A, 2-B, 3-C, 4-A, 5-E, 6-A (for "apogee", C), 7-C (for "perigee", A), 8-A, 9-C, 10-B, 11-D, 12-A, 13-C, 14-C, 15-D, 16-D, 17-D, 18-E, 19-D, 20-E, 21-B, 22-A (western-lit Moon is First Quarter -- see top diagram on page 2 of Sample Exam 1), 23-A, 24-D, 25-C *, 26-C (think inverse-square law, 1/r²), 27-D, 28-B, 29-D **, 30-D, 31-D.

Sample Exam 1 Second Set Note: There are a couple of questions which we have not covered in class yet -- obviously you can't do them yet, so those topics won't be on our Exam 1 this semester.

Exam 1 Solution

Sample Exam 2: First set here (10/20/2008 Tu);

Sample Exam 2 First Set Answers: 1-C, 2-A, 3-D, 4-B, 5-A, 6-D, 7-D, 8-A, 9-E, 10-D, 11-C, 12-D, 13-D, 14-D, 15-D, 16-D, 17-B, 18-D, 19-D, 20-A, 21-D, 22-C, 23-A, 24-D, 25-A, 26-C, 27-D, 28-A, 29-E, 30-D.

Exam 2 Solution

Sample Exam 3: First set here (handed out 11/12/2009 Th);

Sample Exam 3 First Set Answers: 1-E, 2-A, 3-C, 4-B, 5-D, 6-A, 7-B, 8-D, 9-C, 10-C, 11-A, 12-C, 13-D, 14-C, 15-D, 16-C, 17-D, 18-C, 19-E (Luminosity Class not given, so though the two stars are the same spectral type, we don't know how big they are), 20-C, 21-C, 22-A, 23-B, 24-B, 25-C, 26-A, 27-D, 28-B, 29-D, 30-B.

PHYS 1060: Introduction to Stars and Galaxies (3 hrs)

This course introduces the student to the origin and evolution of stars, galaxies, and the universe. Topics covered include the basic properties of stars; the birth, life, and death of stars; stellar explosions; the origin of the elements; white dwarf stars, neutron stars, and black holes; the interstellar medium; structure and evolution of the Milky Way and other galaxies; the origin and fate of the Universe. Students must take PHYS 1050 concurrently with PHYS 1060 if they wish to fulfill the requirements of General Education Area VI. Prerequisites: MATH 1100 or equivalent

PHYS 1050: Stars and Galaxies Laboratory (1 hr)

This is an astronomy laboratory course designed to illustrate and explore some of the topics covered in PHYS 1060 Introduction to Stars and Galaxies. Corequisites: PHYS 1060.

Sep.  7 Mon	- Labor Day (No Classes)
Sep.  8 Tue	- PHYS-1060 Begins
Sep. 10 Thu	- Regular Weekly Quizzes Begin (Thursdays)
Sep. 14 Mon	- Drop/Add Ends (100% Refund)
Sep. 14 Mon	- Last Day to Drop without "W"		
Sep. 14 Mon	- PHYS-1050 Laboratory Begins This Week
Sep. 29 Tue	- Hour Exam 1
Oct. 27 Tue	- Hour Exam 2 (NOTE: 10/27 is the CORRECT date)
Nov.  9 Mon	- Last Day to Drop with "W"
Nov. 24 Tue	- Hour Exam 3
Nov. 25 Wed	- Thanksgiving Recess Starts @ Noon
Nov. 30 Mon	- Classes Resume
Dec.  3 Thu	- Topic 1 (Book Report) (due by 5pm Thursday)
Dec.  8 Tue	- Grace Period for Topic 1 ends at 5pm
Dec. 11 Fri	- Last Regular Class
Dec. 14 Mon	- FINALS WEEK Starts
Dec. 15 Tue	- Final Exam  2:45pm-4:45pm (2 hours)
Dec. 15 Tue	- Final Exam 12:30pm-2:30pm (2 hours)
Dec. 18 Fri	- End of Fall Session
Dec. 22 Tue	- Grades due at Noon

Quiz 2 Solution (corrected -- final answers for (e) & (f) were inadvertantly switched)

Quiz 3 Solution

Quiz 4 Solution

Quiz 5 Solution

Quiz 6 Solution