Course: PHY 115A
Instructor: Ali Yazdani
F 2021
Description of Course Goals and Curriculum
This course aims to teach students basic concepts in Physics and the relevant applications/technologies in order for them to understand the social impact of these technologies. The emphasis of the course is on real-life applications and facts rather than theoretical knowledge, so the learning may be more concrete than some other theory-focused courses. With the knowledge gained from this course, students could make informed decisions as citizens and leaders in our society.
The flow of the course is smooth—it starts from the most basic concepts in Physics like energy and power and then builds on these concepts to teach more complicated topics such as atomic structure and nuclear power. The transition to topics in quantum physics toward the end of the course may be slightly more challenging, but the content is still grounded in experiments and facts rather than abstract theoretical knowledge, so the difficulty is manageable.
A very important tip for succeeding in this course is to pay special attention to the factual information/real-life applications of the concepts because it is the emphasis of the course. Understanding the basic concepts is essential, but being able to put them into the context of applications in technology is also crucial to the aim of this course.
Learning From Classroom Instruction
Learning For and From Assignments
External Resources
What Students Should Know About This Course For Purposes Of Course Selection
Physics for Future Leaders
This course aims to teach students basic concepts in Physics and the relevant applications/technologies in order for them to understand the social impact of these technologies. The emphasis of the course is on real-life applications and facts rather than theoretical knowledge, so the learning may be more concrete than some other theory-focused courses. With the knowledge gained from this course, students could make informed decisions as citizens and leaders in our society.
The flow of the course is smooth—it starts from the most basic concepts in Physics like energy and power and then builds on these concepts to teach more complicated topics such as atomic structure and nuclear power. The transition to topics in quantum physics toward the end of the course may be slightly more challenging, but the content is still grounded in experiments and facts rather than abstract theoretical knowledge, so the difficulty is manageable.
A very important tip for succeeding in this course is to pay special attention to the factual information/real-life applications of the concepts because it is the emphasis of the course. Understanding the basic concepts is essential, but being able to put them into the context of applications in technology is also crucial to the aim of this course.