Gerard Roe
office: JHN 361
email:gerard@ess.wash...
phone: 543-4980
Office hours: anytime
Stuff:-
Class details
Syllabus
Textbook
Term paper outline
Notes and handouts
to download:
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ESS
314:
Expedition to Planet Earth
Fall, 2008
Mon-Thurs:
10.30-11.20, JHN 377
Fri:
Lab, 9.30-11.20, JHN 011
What
would it
be like encountering Earth for the
first time?
This
course examines how a
future expedition of extraterrestrials
could use geophysical data, physical principles, and mathematical
techniques to
decide whether they should colonize Earth, and to understand why the
indigenous civilization became extinct.
The
course uses an investigative approach. Concepts and tools
will be
introduced as
necessary to solve each problem as it arises.
The courses progresses
from what
can be seen from space to what requires detailed ground-based
observations. The
course includes
a basic, context-related introduction to thermodynamics
and the
basic equations of classical physics
governing potentials, diffusion,
wave
propagation, and planetary-scale fluid flow:
Pre-requisites: Phys 122 or 115/118, Math
126.
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