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	300 Steele Building CB# 3504 UNC-Chapel Hill Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599-3504 email: fys@unc.edu phone: (919)843-7773

Physics & Astronomy

PHYS/MUSC 051 [006D]: The Interplay of Music and Physics
Communication Intensive (CI); Physical and Life Science (PL) [GC Natural Science - no lab, physical]
Laurie McNeil & Brent Wissick
This course is for students who are interested in how music is made, how sound is produced in instruments, and how those sounds have been used in musicmaking from the twelfth century to the present day. Students study the basics of physics and music: wave motion, resonance, the perception of sound, scales, harmony, and music theory. The final project is a public performance of an original composition, a suite written especially for an "orchestra" made up of instruments that the students have constructed.

PHYS 052 [006B]: Making the Right Connections
Physical and Life Science (PL) [GC Natural Science - lab required, physical]
Hugon Karwowski
This seminar investigates the multiple roles that computers and microprocessors perform in scientific investigations. Starting with a review of basic laws and principles of electricity, students learn to build radios, chaos simulators, and more. We also discuss the societal consequences of recent technological advances in the field.

PHYS 053 [006D]: Handcrafting in the Nanoworld: Building Models and Manipulating Molecules
Physical and Life Science (PL) [GC Natural Science - no lab, physical]
Michael Falvo
What is nanotechnology anyway? Scientists of all stripes are now actively exploring the wonderful and bizarre world of the nanoscale (one nanometer equals one billionth of a meter). This is the scale of molecules, DNA, carbon nanotubes and a host of other fascinating nano-objects. At this scale, nature has different rules, some of which are beautiful and unexpected. Scientists have only begun to learn these rules. We have also only begun applying this new knowledge to technology. Can we make computers using single molecule transistors? How do viruses and other bio systems "assemble" themselves? Can we build molecular machines that cure disease or clean up the environment? In looking at these questions, we will try to distinguishing the true promise of nanoscience from the hype. We will study the strange objects and properties of the nanoworld through class discussion and hands-on activities that include model building (with model kits, Lego etc.), scientific journal composition, and actual nanoscale experiments.

PHYS 054 [006C]: Physics of Movies
Physical and Life Science (PL) [GC Natural Science - no lab, physical]
Christian Iliadis
Why does physics matter in everyday life situations? How can we comprehend the physics shown in movies? Which situations shown in movies are unphysical? How are physicists portrayed in movies? And, finally, how does physics research influence society? These are the main questions we will address during the course. Ultimately, we will gain a more fundamental understanding for physical concepts and how these concepts may shape our world view.

PHYS 061 [006G]: The Copernican Revolution
North Atlantic World (NA), Physical and Life Science (PL), The World Before 1750 (WB) [GC Pre-1700 Western History]
James Rose
In this course we will study the two thousand year effort, beginning with the Pythagorean Greeks in 500 BC, and ending with the work of Kepler and Galileo in 1609 AD, to understand the apparent motions of celestial objects (the Sun, Moon, stars, and five visible planets). During this long struggle to accurately portray the motions of celestial object, our view of the cosmos as revolving around a stationary Earth gave way to a Sun-centered view, in which the Earth is just another large body in space. This revolution in thinking about our place in the cosmos was often at the forefront of, or strongly reflected in, the dominant cultural revolutions of that two thousand-year period. In making a careful analysis of the evolution of ideas related to celestial motion, we will show refinements to existing ideas punctuated by major breakthroughs in our world view that characterize the scientific method, and critical thinking in general.

PHYS 063 [006D]: Catastrophe and Chaos: Unpredictable Physics
Quantitative Intensive (QI); Physical and Life Sciences (PL) [GC Natural Science - no lab, physical]
Wayne Christiansen
Although Physics is the only science that enshrines uncertainty as a fundamental principle (Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle in Quantum Mechanics), it is still seen by most non-scientists as the most precise and deterministic of the sciences. While often apparently true of most everyday experiences--the launching of a rocket, the movement of a clock--determinism usually fails when times are long enough or the stimulus is strong enough. The goal of this first year seminar is to explore the richness and diversity of those important and rapidly developing areas of modern physics in which "unpredictability" is the norm.

PHYS 071 [006C]: Power Down: How Will Chapel Hill, NC, the U.S. and the World Deal with the End of Cheap Oil and Natural Gas?
Quantitative Intensive (QI); Physical and Life Sciences (PL) [GC Natural Science - no lab, physical]
Gerald Cecil
Cheap domestic oil propelled the USA to world economic and military dominance, and has allowed us to feed and hence boost world population. Now that half of the world's oil supply has been consumed and the rest is concentrated in unstable nations, prices are expected to rise inexorably. The effects in the first world will be to reduce dramatically the personal mobility and energy consumption that we take for granted, ending suburban sprawl and immigrant driven economic growth. In the developing world, agricultural productivity hence population will shrink. This seminar will prepare for expensive energy by: understanding what forms energy takes; learning to assess the efficiency and technologies of energy conversion; studying the implications of higher energy costs on space conditioning, fertilizer & food production, transportation, industry, pharmaceuticals, and communications/work patterns. This seminar will examine waste byproducts including the effects of greenhouse gases on global climate, and the long-term storage of nuclear waste. It will examine passive solar homes, and hear from guest lecturers who are working on the transition locally to renewable or practically inexhaustible energy sources.