2008 Courses & Clusters

Cluster 6 - Exploration of Physics of Waves and Stars

Instructors:
Brian Keating, Professor, UCSD Department of Physics
Tom Renbarger, National Science Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow, UCSD Department of Physics
Vesa Junkkarinen, Research Physicist, Center for Astrophysics & Space Science

Description:
Waves transport energy but not matter. Waves are all around us: music, sound, light, heat, radio, TV, cell phones, X-rays, water waves, tsunamis, earthquake waves and even gravity waves. We will explore their similarities and their differences; we will study their speed, reflection, refraction, diffraction, interference, dispersion, polarization, Doppler shift and shock waves. We study how waves carry the energy from the Sun, how they are used to probe the core of the Earth, how they transmit information to your laptop and how antennas launch and receive waves.

The life of stars is the battle of atomic and nuclear physics against the inward pull of gravity. While stars can shine brightly for millions or billions of years, they cannot escape their fate of collapsing into a compact object in the form of a white dwarf, neutron star, or black hole -- the ultimate victory of gravity. In addition to acting in planetary systems and orbiting binary stars, gravity is responsible for binding the galaxies together, shaping their form, and controlling their history. This course focuses on the role of gravity in the astrophysics of planets, stars, black holes and galaxies.

2007 Website

Prerequisites:
Algebra 1, 8th Grade general science (or equivalents)

Recommended:
Algebra II, Trigonometry

<< Back to 2008 Clusters