PHYS103

[WesMaps Home Page] [Course Search] [Course Search by CID]

PHYS103

Nuclear Energy: Its Physics and Its Politics PHYS103 SP

Next Offered in 9899 SP

What are the benefits and liabilities of nuclear energy? Where does the truth lie, and how can one find it? The course has two complementary aims: (1) to help you understand the physics of reactors and radiation and (2) to increase your ability to analyze complex environmental issues.

MAJOR READINGS

Kaku and Trainer, MUCLEAR POWER: BOTH SIDES
Nigel Hawkes, CHERNOBYL: THE END OF NUCLEAR DREAM
B.L. Cohen, THE NUCLEAR OPTION
Aldo Leopold, A SAND COUNTY ALMANAC
Strunk and White, THE ELEMENTS OF STYLE

EXAMINATIONS AND ASSIGNMENTS

Weekly reading and homework exercises; three 3-page papers and an 8-page paper; an hour exam and a final.

ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS and/or COMMENTS

A high school course in chemistry or physics. Faithful attendance is expected and required. Unless preregistered students attend the first class meeting or communicate directly with the instructor prior to the first class, they will be dropped from the class list. NOTE: Students must still submit a completed Drop/Add form to the Registrar's Office.

COURSE FORMAT: Discussion Fieldwork Lecture

REGISTRATION INFORMATION

Level: UG Credit: 1.00 Gen Ed Area & Dept: NSM PHYS

Prerequisites: None

Last Updated on MAR-03-1998

About the Photo:

May 8, 1951 Operation Greenhouse nuclear explosion on the South Pacific atoll of Eniwetok.

Reference:

Cutnell, John D. and Kenneth W. Johnson, PHYSICS. New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 1989

Contact wesmaps@wesleyan.edu to submit comments or suggestions.