NSci 140T Topics in Natural Sciences: Astronomy

NEWS (posted 2005 May 27):
NSci 140T grades for Spring 2005 are available at my.csufresno.edu.
Thanks for taking NSci 140T!

NSci 140T Topics in Natural Sciences: Astronomy - 2005 Spring

Course syllabus: please read carefully.

Instructor: Dr. Ringwald
E-mail: ringwald[at]csufresno.edu and replace [at] with @

Phone: 278-8426

Also: 278-2371

Office hours (between January 19 and May 13):
MWF 1-2, MW 4:30-5:30, Th 11-12, and at other times too, but please call or e-mail first.

Office: McLane Hall, Room 11, in the new Building J (or "J-wing").
This is across the outdoor "hall" from McLane 149, 151, and 161 (near the Women's Room).

You don't need an appointment to come to office hours. This is time set aside for you, when I'll be in.

Please feel free to contact me, if you have any problems whatsoever in this course, or if you're doing well and just want to talk about the wonders of the Universe. It's in my interest, and I care, that you do well!

Course Description

2004-2005 General Catalog):

Supplemental Course Description

Class objectives:
(1) To serve that most essential purpose of a good education: to show you what lies beyond the horizon, in space and in time.

"The purpose of education is to free the student from the tyranny of the present." - Cicero

Meeting times and location: Schedule 38987 (Section 03),
4-8 p.m. on February 11, 8-4 p.m. on February 12,
4-8 p.m. on April 22, 8-4 p.m. on April 23.
All meetings will be in McLane 162, unless announced otherwise.

Required Course Texts:
(1) The Science Class You Wish You Had, by David E. Brody and Arnold R. Brody, which I'll refer to as Brody.
(2) The Stars, A New Way to See Them, by H. A. Rey.
(3) The Class Notes (in the red binder) for PSci 21 (Elementary Astronomy).
If the bookstore has run out of the Class Notes, if you go to Kennel Copy Center, in the basement of the bookstore, they can make more.

Recommended, but not required Course Texts:
(4) Discovering the Essential Universe (2nd edition), by Neil F. Comins (2003), which I'll refer to as Comins.
(5) The Elements of Style, by W. Strunk Jr. and E. B. White.
All should be available at the campus Bookstore, in the University Student Union building. They should be on the same shelf as the PSci 21 (Elementary Astronomy) texts. If they are unavailable there, they can also be obtained from Amazon books (www.amazon.com).

If you can't afford books: You may borrow copies of any of the above texts from the Circulation Desk at Madden Library (278-4024), for two hours at a time. They should be with the PSci 21 (Elementary Astronomy) texts.

Course web page: http://zimmer.csufresno.edu/~fringwal/nsci140ts05.html. Better bookmark this one!

Course grades will be CR/NC (Credit/No Credit), with CR corresponding to A-D, and NC corresponding to F, in which:
85.0-100% = A; 70.0-84.9% = B; 55.0-69.9% = C; 40.0-54.9% = D; 0-39.9% = F.
Grades should be available online (at my.csufresno.edu) on June 1.
These percentages will be computed with the following weights:

Research Paper or Lesson Plan

see the Writing Guide

due anytime before 5 p.m. on Wednesday, May 11

, in McLane 173

Final Quiz

TENTATIVE Course Schedule (updated 2005 February 10):

February 11 4-5 p.m. Introduction; Powers of Ten
5-6 p.m. The Light-Year and Look-Back Time (Comins 1)
6-7 p.m. Proportions; A Brief Tour of Space and Time (Comins 1)
7-8 p.m. The Cosmic Calendar (Comins 1)
8 p.m. to late OPTIONAL telescope observing at Fresno State's Campus Observatory, near the Downing Planetarium, weather permitting.

February 12 8-9 a.m. Classical Astronomy and Seasons (Comins 1, Rey)
9-10 a.m. Classical Astronomy (continued)
10-11 a.m. Scientific Method (Comins 1)
11-12 a.m. Scientific Method (Brody Introduction)
12-1 p.m. Lunch
1-2 p.m. Motion, from Copernicus to Galileo (Comins 2; Brody 1 and 2)
2-3 p.m. Motion, from Galileo to Newton (Comins 2; Brody 3)
3-4 p.m. Newton's laws of motion (Comins 2; Brody 3)
4 p.m. to late OPTIONAL Star Party with the Central Valley Astronomers, at the Buck Ridge Recreation area at Hensley Lake State Park, weather permitting. Dress warmly!

Read, by April 22:

The Introduction and Chapters 1-11 and 15 of The Science Class You Wish You Had, by David and Arnold Brody;
Pages 9-35, 66-72, 108-121, and 127-138 of The Stars, by H. A. Rey;
All the pages in the PSci 21 Class Notes marked "Required Reading";
(Optional:) Chapters 1-12 of Discovering the Essential Universe, by Neil Comins

April 22	4-5 p.m.	The Solar System (Comins 2-10, 2-11) and Extrasolar Planets (Comins 2-12)
	5-6 p.m.	Earth and Moon (Comins 4 and Brody 15)
	6-7 p.m.	The Planets (Comins 5 and 6)
	7-8 p.m.	The Sun and Nuclear Physics (Comins 7; Brody 6)
	8 p.m. to late	OPTIONAL telescope observing at Fresno State's Campus Observatory, near the Downing Planetarium, weather permitting.

April 23	8-9 a.m.	Stars (Comins 8)
	9-10 a.m.	Interstellar Matter and Star Formation (Comins 9)
	10-11 a.m.	White Dwarfs and Neutron Stars (Comins 10)
	11-12 a.m.	Black Holes and Relativity (Brody 7 and 8)
	12-1 p.m.	Lunch
	1-2 p.m.	The Milky Way; Galaxies and Hubble's Law (Comins 11)
	2-3 p.m.	Cosmology (Comins 12; Brody 9, 10, and 11)
	3-4 p.m.	Final Quiz (which will be comprehensive)
	7-9 p.m.	OPTIONAL Meeting of the Central Valley Astronomers, in East Engineering 191.

Lab Safety: NSci 140T lab sessions are entirely optional, and necessarily take place after dark, because the object of study is the night sky. If safety becomes a concern, the Campus Police provide an escort program. Radio-equipped, uniformed, trained escort officers will accompany persons to their destinations on campus during hours of darkness. Call 278-2132, or pick up an emergency phone to request an escort officer. Be sure to check their badges before going anywhere with them. The Campus Police also provide car battery assistance and other services. They can be reached in an emergency by calling 911.

Please note:

Class Attendance:
All students are required to attend all class sessions. All students are also expected to arrive for class on time, and to attend to the end of all class sessions. Doing otherwise is disruptive, in large classes like this. Please check your schedule and work out problems at the beginning of the semester. If a student must miss a class for a compelling reason (e.g. a job interview or an illness documented by a physician's note), it is the student's responsibility to get the notes from another student. It is also that student's responsibility to check on announcements made while you were absent. To do this, check the notes taken by another student: Dr. Ringwald may not remember everything offhand.
Don't miss class. Listening to lectures and participating in discussions are much more effective than reading someone else's class notes. Active participation is even better: it will help you retain what you are learning.
Always do the reading assignments before class. Class time is valuable: it is much better spent in informed, active discussion among us all than in just Dr. Ringwald talking. It always amazes Dr. Ringwald: the students who get "A"s are almost always the ones who keep up with the reading. The ones who don't, almost always are the ones who don't.
Don't be shy about asking questions in class, or during office hours. Remember that the only "dumb" question is the one you didn't ask, that fouled you up later because you didn't ask it. This is especially so in this class: there are some mighty strange things out there in the Universe.
Note taking: Everything Dr. Ringwald writes during class, on the chalkboard or on overhead transparencies, is of primary importance for exams. All students should copy it into their own notes, which they may put between pages in the loose-leaf folder that contains the Class Notes. Students who get grades of "A" often re-copy and re-organize their notes, after class. This makes learning active, and more thorough.
All students are required to turn off all beepers, pagers, and portable phones while classes are in session.
Dr. Ringwald often uses e-mail to communicate with students, and please feel free to send e-mail to Dr. Ringwald.
NO late assignments can be accepted. Sorry, but it's just not possible, for classes this size. Assignments are due at the beginning of the class period specified by the due date, and will not be accepted at any time after the end of class. Dr. Ringwald can't allow assignments slipped under his office door, because they get lost so easily.
Always show all work in all course assignments, especially in homework involving mathematical calculations, including the units. Not showing all work, and the correct units, will be cause for points to be taken off.
All students are required to keep all course materials for the duration of the course. Retain all copies of all work you have done in all your classes, ever. Hang on to your textbooks, too: even the real stinkers can serve as bad examples.
The Department of Physics cooperates with the Services for Students with Disabilities (SSD) to make reasonable accommodations for qualified students with physical, perceptual, or learning disabilities (cf. Americans with Disabilities Act and Section of 504, Rehabilitation Act). Students with disabilities must present their written accommodation request to Dr. Ringwald within the first two weeks of class.
The Final Quiz will be closed book and as such you may not use any notes or books during the exam. Calculators may be used for the exams.
Sorry, but Dr. Ringwald cannot give a make-up quiz for the Final Quiz, nor can Dr. Ringwald give the Final Quiz in advance, not even for students who have legitimate reasons for being absent (e.g. job interviews, illness documented by a physician's note, deaths in the immediate family that can be documented), or for students who are participating in University-sponsored activities, such as athletics or theatre. If any student must miss the Final Quiz, the part of the course grade for which that mid-term exam would have counted will be voided, and the rest of the grade will be counted as 100%.
This is really the only possible solution, since it takes about eight hours of Dr. Ringwald's time to prepare one of his cheat-proof quizzes, each of which must be different for every student who wants a make-up quiz or a quiz in advance. It is therefore quite impossible for Dr. Ringwald to give make-up quizzes or quizzes in advance without very substantial additional cost in his time Scheduling make-up quizzes or quizzes in advance is also not humanly possible for Dr. Ringwald: during Dr. Ringwald's first semesters at Fresno State he did allow this, and quickly found it impossible to accomodate every student who wanted them, because there simply aren't enough hours in the week for it. This left no choice but to end the practice altogether of giving make-up quizzes and quizzes in advance. Even with smaller classes, one can never be sure that a makeup or advance quiz was really fair, since it must be different from the regular quiz.
If for any reason any student leaves the classroom while an exam is being given, that student may not re-enter the classroom as long as that exam is still taking place. The student's leaving the exam will be taken to signify that the student has finished that exam. This includes trips to the bathroom, so plan ahead.
Since during exams Dr. Ringwald needs to supervise the exam, he will not be able to discuss students' grades or assignment deadlines or to accept assignments, until the exam is over. Dr. Ringwald will be happy to answer any questions about the content of the exam in progress, however.
All students are required to remove hats with brims and sunglasses during all exams, because they have in the past been used to aid cheating. Students may not use calculators, pagers, cell phones, or any other devices that can communicate outside the classroom during exams. This constitutes cheating, and any students caught cheating, in this or any other way, will receive an NC for the entire course.
The above grading scale will not be moved: how any student's grade is determined doesn't depend on any other student's grade. If there is a dispute in the grading of the exams, the Final Exam, or the final grade, then a student can present their case to Dr. Ringwald one time during his Office Hours, or at some other time that can arranged mutually between the student and Dr. Ringwald. If after this the student still feels that their exam, Final Exam, or overall grade deserves another look the student can write down their reasons for Dr. Ringwald to reconsider his grading. This written request must be typed and must be a minimum of 1/2 page single space for exam or Final Exam questions, and a minimum of 1 page single spaced for the overall grade. Dr. Ringwald expects that most of these rules will never be used, since the single face to face meeting is usually enough to figure out whether the grade should be changed or not.
Plagiarism: Far too many students these days take papers from the Internet, and turn them in as their own work. This is now easy for professors to detect, with www.plagiarism.org. If Dr. Ringwald finds a paper or web page anywhere that closely resembles that of any student, that web page had better have that student's name on it. If it doesn't, that student turning it in for course credit will be interpreted as an attempt to misrepresent someone else's work as the student's own, which constitutes plagiarism. Remember, always: you are responsible for anything with your name on it.
Modifying someone else's paper slightly, or changing the words around, or stringing someone else's paragraphs together, even if they're cited, is no better: none of these dubious practices make it your paper. For information on the University's policy regarding cheating and plagiarism, refer to the Schedule of Courses (Legal Notices on Cheating and Plagiarism) and the University Catalog (Policies and Regulations).
If Dr. Ringwald finds a plagiarized paper, the student will receive an NC (No Credit grade) for the entire course. Dr. Ringwald may also send the plagiarized paper to the Dean and other university authorities and recommend the student be expelled from the University. Do NOT plagiarize!
The Central Valley Astronomers are Fresno's amateur astronomy group. They have monthly star parties and meetings on campus, which will be announced in class. See also their web page, at: www.cvafresno.org.
Other astronomy courses at Fresno State include:
- PSci 21 Elementary Astronomy (offered every Fall and Spring semester). Prerequisite: second-year high-school algebra.
- Phys 150 Astrophysics (to be offered 2006 Spring). Prerequisite: Phys 4C.
- Phys 175T Observational Astronomy (to be offered 2005 Fall). Prerequisite: Phys 4C and either PSci 21 or Phys 150 or permission of instructor.
This syllabus and schedule are subject to change in the event of extenuating circumstances. If any student is absent from class, it is that student's responsibility to check on announcements made while that student was absent. A student's being registered in, and not dropping, this NSci 140T lecture section for which Dr. Ringwald is the instructor means that that student accepts all the above terms on this syllabus, and on the accompanying Writing Guide for Research Papers.

Click here for the Writing Guide for Research Papers

Go to Dr. Ringwald's home page

Last updated 2005 February 10. Web page by Dr. Ringwald (ringwald[at]csufresno.edu and replace [at] with @
Department of Physics, California State University, Fresno. Please read this disclaimer.

February 11	4-5 p.m.	Introduction; Powers of Ten
	5-6 p.m.	The Light-Year and Look-Back Time (Comins 1)
	6-7 p.m.	Proportions; A Brief Tour of Space and Time (Comins 1)
	7-8 p.m.	The Cosmic Calendar (Comins 1)
	8 p.m. to late	OPTIONAL telescope observing at Fresno State's Campus Observatory, near the Downing Planetarium, weather permitting.

February 12	8-9 a.m.	Classical Astronomy and Seasons (Comins 1, Rey)
	9-10 a.m.	Classical Astronomy (continued)
	10-11 a.m.	Scientific Method (Comins 1)
	11-12 a.m.	Scientific Method (Brody Introduction)
	12-1 p.m.	Lunch
	1-2 p.m.	Motion, from Copernicus to Galileo (Comins 2; Brody 1 and 2)
	2-3 p.m.	Motion, from Galileo to Newton (Comins 2; Brody 3)
	3-4 p.m.	Newton's laws of motion (Comins 2; Brody 3)
	4 p.m. to late	OPTIONAL Star Party with the Central Valley Astronomers, at the Buck Ridge Recreation area at Hensley Lake State Park, weather permitting. Dress warmly!