| Unit name | Air Water Fire Earth 301 |
|---|---|
| Unit code | PHYS31010 |
| Credit points | 10 |
| Level of study | H/6 |
| Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 2 (weeks 13 - 24) |
| Unit director | Dr. Fellows |
| Open unit status | Not open |
| Pre-requisites |
Normally 120 credit points of level I/5 physics units including Classical Physics. |
| Co-requisites |
None |
| School/department | School of Physics |
| Faculty | Faculty of Science |
An introduction to ecophysics. This unit applies the physics the students know at this point, to the broader issues involved with the environment. The aim is to give an outline of the physics within air and water in the environment and how a variety of phenomena arise therefrom. Applications will involve a broad-brush introduction to weather, to 'environmentally-friendly' power generation and to phenomena like flight, which are based on simple physics and take place within the air and water around us. A key skill which we hope will be developed is to consider rather complex systems from the environment around us, and extract the core elements of the science which underpin them.
Aims:
To develop an understanding of the physics of air and water in the environment in three different contexts: globally as the physics of the atmosphere and oceans driven by solar heating and gravity, environmentally in their usefulness for renewable power generation without waste products, and operationally as fluid media in various applications.
At the end of the unit the student should have knowledge and understanding of:
Lectures and problem classes.
Written examination comprising 1 2-hour paper
