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Course Criteria
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0.00 - 4.00 Credits
This course examines the major bodies of our solar system, emphasizing their surface features, internal structures, and atmospheres. Topics include the origin of the solar system, habitability of planets, and role of impacts in planetary evolution. Terrestrial and giant planets will be studied as well as satellites, comets, and asteroids. Recent discoveries from planetary missions are emphasized. The course is aimed primarily at non-science majors.
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0.00 - 4.00 Credits
This course introduces students to a new field, Astrobiology, where scientists trained in biology, chemistry, astronomy and geology combine their skills to discover life's origins and to seek extraterrestrial life. Topics include: the origin of life on Earth, the prospects of life beneath the surfaces of Mars and Europa, a moon of Jupiter; extra-solar planets nearby that offer targets for NASA space telescopes searching for life.
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0.00 - 4.00 Credits
Use of scientific data and arguments in formulating environmental policies, international development, poverty reduction, economic growth, conflict, and risk assessment. Class format consists of case studies for which students analyze the scientific arguments, evaluate the data upon which they are based, and determine the scientific credibility, political feasibility, and economic consequences of the various decisions.
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0.00 - 4.00 Credits
The habitability of our planet depends critically on the motion of the oceans and atmosphere, which determines our weather and climate. Associated phenomena include hurricanes, tornadoes, the Jet Streams, the Gulf Stream, El Nino, La Nina, and the recurrent Ice Ages of the past million years. The course includes the use of an idealized computer model (which runs on a laptop) to study how these phenomena depend on the Earth's rotation and sphericity, and to explore the predictability of weather, and of long-term changes in climate, including future global warming.
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0.00 - 4.00 Credits
Covers topics including origin of elements; formation of the Earth; evolution of the atmosphere and oceans; atomic theory and chemical bonding; crystal chemistry and ionic substitution in crystals; reaction equilibria and kinetics in aqueous and biological systems; chemistry of high-temperature melts and crystallization process; and chemistry of the atmosphere, soil, marine and riverine environments. The biogeochemistry of contaminants and their influence on the environment will also be discussed.
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0.00 - 4.00 Credits
The chemical composition of the major realms of the planet: core, mantle, continents, ocean, atmosphere, and biosphere. Topics include the synthesis of the chemical elements in stars, the origin of the solar system and Earth, and the chemical differentiation of Earth's core, mantle, crust, ocean, atmosphere, and biosphere. Also explores the global cycles of carbon, nitrogen, and other biologically important elements, their interactions with the geosphere, and their evolution through time.
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0.00 - 4.00 Credits
This course explores the causes and consequences of human-induced climate change, and the range of potential policy responses. By studying the natural climate system and how it is influenced by human perturbation, we will develop a quantitative understanding of how climate is expected to change in the future as greenhouse gases accumulate in the atmosphere. The course also examines scientific themes that should frame any public policy based on risk management, including irreversibility, uncertainty, and surprise. We will also examine the ways in which people, governments and other institutions are actually responding to climate change.
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0.00 - 4.00 Credits
This course serves as an introduction to the processes that govern the distribution of different rocks and minerals in the Earth. We learn to make observations from the microscopic to continental scale and relate these to theoretical and empirical thermodynamics. The goal is to understand the chemical, structural, and thermal influences on rock and mineral formation and how this in turn influences the plate tectonic evolution of our plant.
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0.00 - 4.00 Credits
An introduction to the physics and geometry of brittle and ductile deformation in Earth's crust. Deformation is considered at scales from atomic to continental, in the context of mountain building, rifting, and the origin of topography.
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0.00 - 4.00 Credits
Examines the diversity of recently discovered planetary systems in terms of fundamental physical and chemical processes and what this diversity implies about the origin and evolution of our own planetary system. Topics include: the formation and dynamics of planets and satellites, planetary migration, the evolution of planetary interiors, surfaces and atmospheres, the occurrence of water and organics, and the habitability of planets and planetary systems. Recent discoveries from planetary missions and extrasolar planet observations are emphasized.
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