Spring 2005 ASTR 2030 Syllabus

Spring 2005 ASTR 2030 Homepage

Spring 2005 ASTR 2030 Black Holes: Syllabus

Content

This is a lower division course intended to introduce non-science students to the predicted properties of black holes, and to the astronomical evidence for their existence. Along the way we will study modern ideas about the nature of space, time, and gravity. For more details, see the Timetable.

This course is approved for the Natural Sciences Core Curriculum. There are no prerequisites.

This course will emphasize visualization and conceptual understanding, not mathematics, although course material will involve high school math and science. If you are a science major, or if you would prefer a more mathematically oriented course, then you should consider taking ASTR 3740 Relativity and Cosmology.

This course will not be an easy A. The concepts of relativity are strange and non-intuitive, and it will require hard work on your part to begin to grasp them. Although there will be little math, the course is still `hard science'.

Goals

The overarching goal of any science course should be for you to learn how to think, reason, and argue scientifically - using logic, observation, and evidence. The homework assignments and group projects are intended to give you an opportunity to practice those scientific skills. The text will describe to you several examples of how scientists battle their way towards the truth.

Another part of my goal is to try to fulfill your goals for this course, within the constraints set by the subject and nature of the course. To help me do this, I will ask you to fill in and submit this goals statement (pdf) at the beginning, middle, and end of the semester. The goals statement is yours, and you should hang on to it after I return it to you.

Who should take this course?	Why?

Artists	Learn how draw relativistically
Writers, movie makers	Learn the truth about Black Holes
Educators	Every kid wants to know about Black Holes
Business folk	Black Holes sell
Psych types	Why do Black Holes fascinate?
Engineers	Can BHs be used for spacetime travel?
Scientists	Learn the phenomenology before climbing the math mountain
You	What are your goals?

Exams

There will be two midterm exams, which will take place in class on F Feb 4 and F Feb 25, and one final exam in the morning of Th May 5, as scheduled on the Timetable.

The exams will cover material discussed in class and in the assigned reading, and will consist largely of multiple choice and short-answer questions. The Feb 4 midterm will be on Special Relativity. The Feb 25 midterm will be on General Relativity and Black Holes. The final will cover all material covered cumulatively during the semester up to and including Apr 15, with an emphasis on material covered since the 25 Feb midterm. The penultimate week of the semester, week 15, will cover the Big Bang, and will not be tested on the final. The last week of the semester, week 16, will be devoted to review.

I will drop either your worst midterm score, or half your final score, or your clicker score (see below), whichever is worst.

In class group Projects

There will be 5 in class group Projects, as scheduled on the Timetable.

The principal goal of the projects is to get you to think and argue logically with your peers. The projects are not intended to be chug-and-plug exercises.

Each project is intended to take approximately 30 minutes, and will take place during the class period. For the project, you will assemble into groups of 3 or 4. You should immediately assign one of your group to be the "Scribe". The group should discuss and solve the project together.

It is the Scribe's responsibility to write up the results obtained by the group, and to submit them at the end of class. I will accept only one submission from each group. The write-up must include the name of the Scribe, and the names of all the other members of the group.

To simplify the logistics, the groups will be informal, probably consisting of your nearest neighbors. You do not have to stay in the same group, and indeed I encourage you to rotate into other groups.

If possible, you should rotate the role of Scribe. Make a goal that you personally should be Scribe for at least one group project during the semester.

Only the 3 best of your 5 group projects will count for grade. Thus you may omit 2 group projects without penalty. This includes cases where you cannot be in class for a project for reasons beyond your control.

Homework

There will be 4 homework sets, which will be handed out in class, and which will also be downloadable from Homework. The homeworks are due as scheduled on the Timetable.

Only the 3 best of your 4 homeworks will count for grade. Thus you may omit 1 homework without penalty.

There will be a tendency for Homework problems to be more mathematical than group projects or exams.

Clickers

We will be using clickers, and clicker points will contribute to your grade. You must purchase a clicker at the CU Bookstore, and then register your clicker online so that answers from your clicker can be credited to you.

Clicker questions will generally be of two kinds:

Questions at the beginning of class on the assigned reading, or on the topic of the previous class;
Concept questions arising in class.

You win clicker points as follows:

Points	Assessment
0	No answer
1	Wrong answer
2	Right answer

In some cases there will be more than one correct answer to a question. However, clickers allow you to give only one answer to a question.

Every person gets 6 free clicker days, meaning that we will omit the worst scoring 6 days from your clicker score. These free clicker days include all eventualities, including days when your clicker fails to work, days when you forgot your clicker, days when you have a personal or family emergency, days when you have to be elsewhere to represent your team or club or University, and days when you go skiing.

As stated above under Exams, I will drop either your worst midterm score, or half your final score, or your clicker score, whichever is worst.

It is strictly forbidden to operate someone else's clicker for them. If you are discovered doing this, then both you and the person whose clicker you operated will receive an F. If you see a classmate operating two or more clickers, please bring it immediately to my attention.

TAs James Gaffney and Nate Murphy will be looking after the clicker system, and any questions regarding clickers should be addressed to then.

Grading

Grading will be based on the in class group projects, homework, clicker points, the midterm, and the final.

Item	Date	Weight
In class group Projects	see Timetable	1/6
Homework	see Timetable	1/6
Clicker points	every class	1/6
Midterms	Th Oct 9	1/3 (1/6 each)
Final	7:30-10:30am Th May 5	1/3

If you add that up, it comes to 7/6. To bring it to 6/6, I will drop either your clicker points, or one of your midterms, or half your final, whichever is worst. For most people, your worst score will be one of the midterms or the final, so it may not be a good strategy to goof off on clickers.

Extra Credit

You can gain up to 2% extra credit by advising me of any science fiction novel or short story, or movie or TV episode, that involves Black Holes or Wormholes (but not just time travel) that is not already listed at Black Hole Books, Movies.

In past years, students have gained extra credit by advising me of a movie or TV episode that involves Black Holes or Wormholes. Thanks to the efforts of previous generations of students, the list of movies and TV episodes has become fairly extensive. For this class, therefore, I am broadening the scope to include works of science fiction, including both novels and short stories.

To gain the full extra credit, you must name a specific work of science fiction, you must have read the work yourself, and you must include a short review of the work (don't forget the quotes rule). Preferably you should provide a link to a place on the web where further information about the work can be found.

Extra credits are first come first served. You can submit an extra credit any time during the semester, and, if approved, I will add it to the website. After that, another student may not use the same novel, short story, or movie for extra credit.

On line grades at WebCT

Grades will be available on line through the WebCT system. All the information you need about how this works can be found at the CU WebCT website. TAs James Gaffney and Nate Murphy will be taking care of WebCT grades, and any questions about the system should be addressed to them.

Fiske Planetarium

CU's Fiske Planetarium has been reserved at the usual class time on the days listed in the Timetable. You should go directly to Fiske (Campus map) on the listed days.

Text

The required text is:

Kip S. Thorne, Black Holes and Time Warps: Einstein's Outrageous Legacy (W.W. Norton, paperback, 1994).
This is a model of how a science book aimed non-scientists should be written. Although presented as a popular book, it is written with all the rigor of a scientific text, with comprehensive notes and references. A delightful blend of history, science, and personal anecdote put together by one of the leading practitioners in the field.

If you want to go beyond this course and learn more about special and general relativity, I recommend (but do not require) the following texts:

Edwin F. Taylor and John A. Wheeler, Spacetime Physics (Freeman, 1992).
This is a wonderfully written text on special relativity, aimed at beginning undergraduate scientists.
Edwin F. Taylor and John A. Wheeler, Exploring Black Holes (Addison Wesley 2000).
This is an equally wonderfully written text on general relativity, with an emphasis on black holes, aimed again at beginning undergraduate scientists.
James B. Hartle, Gravity, An Introduction to Einstein's General Relativity (Addison Wesley 2003).
A more advanced but still accessible up to date text on general relativity, again aimed at undergraduate scientists. If you are serious about learning general relativity, then this is the book for you.
John F. Hawley and Katherine A. Holcomb, Foundations of Modern Cosmology (Oxford University Press 1998).
This very readable text is aimed at general undergraduate students, not just scientists. It is focused mainly on cosmology, as its title suggests, but it also has chapters on relativity and black holes. There has been huge progress in cosmology since 1995, so you might like to wait for the new edition, which should be coming out some time in 2005.

Websites

We will make extensive use of two websites that I developed for this and similar classes at CU:

The authoritative site that tells you about all the good sites on Relativity on the web is:

Chris Hillman and John Baez's Relativity on the World Wide Web.

As a site containing solid relativity science, but aimed at non-scientists, I recommend in particular:

Science fiction writer Greg Egan's Foundations.

Common Courtesy

I expect you:

To give the class your full attention;
Not to leave class early, and not to rustle papers in preparation for leaving class.

Please note that University policy forbids bringing food or drink into lecture halls.

You may expect me:

To treat you as an intelligent adult;
To finish lectures on time.

Academic Honesty

You are encouraged to form study groups and to discuss the course material with your classmates, but anything that you submit for grade must be your own work. We remind you that a Student Honor Code system has been implemented throughout CU.

I have a very simple rule regarding the quoting or use of material obtained through the web or elsewhere:

Anything that is not your own work should be in quotes, as in "this is a sentence that I copied" (cite X)

and should preferably be accompanied by an appropriate citation of the source. Violation of the quotes rule will earn you an F.

Students with Disabilities

The law requires us to make reasonable accomodations to students with learning or physical disabilities. If you need such accomodations, then you should tell me about them in a timely manner. Normally, you should have obtained supporting documentation from the university's Disability Services.

Spring 2005 ASTR 2030 Homepage

Updated 2005 Jan 9