Physics 140: Greenhouse Effect
Spring 2008

About the Course and the Instructor

In this course, we study the science of global warming and what we can or should do about it. We will learn about climate, weather, temperature, heat and energy. We will also learn about the current main sources of greenhouse gas emissions, energy use, and the effects of personal and corporate choices and current and proposed policies and treaties at the local, national and international levels. One of the main goals of the course is for you to learn enough of the basic science and quantitative analysis to be able to understand and evaluate for yourself the arguments being presented in the public policy discussions of global warming, and not be bamboozled by those who take advantage of the ignorance and innumeracy of the general public to present spurious arguments.

Professor Karin Rabe (Department of Physics and Astronomy) will be in charge of the class, to be held during the MW5 period (2:50pm - 4:10pm) in Murray Hall Room 211.
My whereabouts are as follows. Office: Serin E275A on Busch, Phone:732-445-4186, Fax:732-445-4400, E-mail: rabe@physics.rutgers.edu
If you have any questions or need help with the course, always email me first and I will do my best to answer promptly. If email isn't enough, we will arrange a time to meet (on College Ave before or after class, or at my office on Busch). I will have a weekly office hour on College Ave, with details posted on the class
web page.
When I am not teaching, I do research in computational materials physics here at Rutgers.

In addition to me, we will have a physics graduate student who will grade your homework and proctor the exams with me. If you have any questions about your graded homework, please return it to me with a clear note on it and I will get an explanation from the grader.

Textbook and References

The main text for the course is "The Rough Guide to Climate Change," by Robert Henson (2006). It should be available at the Rutgers bookstore; it can also be found at online book merchants such as Amazon.com and Buy.com. Go ahead and get the first edition, as the new edition will not be available until February. Additional  readings will be drawn from the Web, especially government, academic and non-profit organization websites, and from current periodicals, especially the New York Times. I will supplement this with home-made tutorial notes as needed. I also encourage you to keep your eyes open for other articles and links, and if you find something relevant to please email me the link.

There are quite a few other good books available, and I encourage you to consult them if you have access to a copy. These include:
Global Warming: Understanding the Forecast, by David Archer (Blackwell, 2007).
Global Warming: The Complete Briefing (3rd edition), by John Houghton (Cambridge University Press, 2004).
The Complete Idiot's Guide to Global Warming, by Michael Tennesen (Alpha, 2004).

Homework

About every two weeks, I will assign a homework set, usually with two or three problems that involve using the science we have learned and applying it whenever possible to "real-life" situations. They can be handwritten (please be neat) or done with a word processor. You must show your work (especially important for calculations) and explain your reasoning. I encourage you to work together to understand and solve the problems, but your solution MUST be written up by you in your own words. There will be penalties if the same write-up is handed in by more than one student.

The due dates are on Wednesdays, except the last homework which will be due the last day of class (Monday, May 5). The preceding Monday, I will take time in class to answer questions about the homework, so I strongly recommend that you attempt the homework over the weekend, or earlier. The completed homework sets are to be handed in at the lecture on Wednesday. If you cannot for some reason make it to the lecture that day, I will accept emailed solutions up to 6 PM. After that, I will post the solution on the web site and no late homeworks will be accepted, even with an excuse such as illness, accident or family emergency. To reduce the impact of such situations, the lowest homework grade will be dropped.

The homework will be usually handed back at the end of lecture the following Monday, when I will also take a few minutes to discuss any points that seemed to present difficulties.

Exams

The exams are mostly multiple choice, with a couple of short answer questions.
Please bring your own sharpened #2 pencils, a calculator, and a one-sided 8.5"x11" "cheat sheet."
The first two exams are in class. They are planned as one-hour exams. Seating is alphabetical. Please be sure to be at class before
2:50 to find your seat without disturbing others.

Class Exam 1: Wednesday, February 27 during class
Class Exam 2: Wednesday, April 9 during class
Final Exam (CUMULATIVE!): Wednesday, May 14 (two hour exam)

Grades

Homework assignments will be worth a total of 20%, two (multiple choice) class exams 25% each, and the final exam 30%. As mentioned above, the lowest homework grade will be dropped.
Subjective factors such as your effort, attendance, participation during discussions, and improvement during the term will also matter for your final grade.

World Wide Web and Required Reading

The URL for our home page is http://www.physics.rutgers.edu/~karin/140
All course information will be posted on this site.
Links to the homework and exam solutions as well as your scores and grades can be found at this website. Links to the additional reading (not in the text) will be available on the site, organized as assigned for each class meeting, and also cumulatively, so that you know what material will be covered on each hour exam. After the first class, make sure that you can access the web site and the links, and add it to your bookmarks.

Administrative Assistance

Professor Mohan Kalelkar (Office:Serin W301, Phone:445-3878, e-mail:kalelkar@physics.rutgers.edu) is the physics undergraduate director. Of course, while we professors pretend to be in-charge, Ms. Julia Sotory (Serin W201, 445-2511, jsotory@physics) holds all the administrative strings. Please see her if you need administrative help.

Students with Disabilities

If you have a disability, you are urged to speak to me EARLY IN THE SEMESTER to make the necessary arrangements to support a successful learning experience. Also, you must arrange a letter from your College's Disabilities Coordinator verifying that you have a disability. A list of the College Coordinators can be found by clicking here.
To Physics 140 Home Page
This page is maintained by Karin Rabe.