The publisher of the book I have written has asked me to make a companion web page for the book.
I want to merge the old Environmental Physics web page (http://homepages.ius.edu/kforinas/E/Environmental.html) with the reference page information (http://homepages.ius.edu/kforinas/ClassRefs/EnviroRefs.html) and put all of this into a format where someone teaching a course out of my book would have a set of additional resources to use, organized by chapter.
Here is the prototype of the web page: http://homepages.ius.edu/kforinas/Ebook/Site/Welcome.html
Here is what we are going to do:
- I am going to reproduce all of the graphs and tables that are in the book and put them on the book web site. This will be a separate part.
- You are going to come up with supplimentary material to go with each chapter. Each person will work on one topic.
Proceedure:
- Pick a topic/subtopic for one of the chapters. This could be an extension of an existing topic in the book or you could add something that is not in the book (but is relevant). Or it could be something from the the Envrionmental physics page or the Reference page (many of these figures are low resolution or are out of date and could be upgraded). Basically anything that is not already in the book but is interesting and relevant. If I wrote "interesting" next to one of your homework answers that would make a good topic.
- Disuss with the instructor what you are going to do beforehand (I may be able to provide sources). First come, first served (if someone picks a topic before you do they get to do it and you have to pick something else). I want to see an outline before Nov. 18.
- Verify/update your information. This means: find (and provide the reference for) reliable sources (usually more than one is good for verification) that have the same figures and numbers. For example, for population, if you are given a graph of population, go to the UN and US census sites, download population spread sheet data, verify the population figures and projections.
- Use the data and information you have gathered to make more comprehensive or updated graphs or tables of the data. Do not simply link to other web pages; create your own graphs, tables and charts, use your own words for explanations. Graphs should be in Excel, tables in Word. I would be particularly happy to have better versions of the sources shown on the Reference page and more up-to-date versions of the Environmental page graphs.
- Summarize your conclusions in a separate set of notes (list the exact web resource, reference or article and summarize what you learned).
- Be prepared to present a draft or outline of your material (5min.) to the class on Dec. 2.
- When you finish, you will post your results on the E-physics resource page on Oncourse. Everything should be handed in electronically so I can convert them to web documents (be sure I respond to any emails). Due date is Dec. 10 by 5:00pm.
Population. World population and trends. The effects of people on the environment. Water supply. Food production. Pollution (water, air, ground). Sound pollution. Basic principles: exponential growth, some elementary calculations on particulate size, ground water flow rates, sound intensity.
Thermodynamics. Basic principles: First Law, conduction, convection, radiation, evaporation, efficiency. Applications of heat flow for buildings. Combined cycle systems. Window coatings. Lighting. Heating and air conditioning. Conservation in general. Conservation and the GDP.
Energy Storage. Fuels, conventional and alternative (energy content versus weight). Hydrogen. Batteries. Pumped Hydro. Flywheels. High charge capacitors. Compressed air. Others. General principles: mass, density, chemical bonds, pressure, kinetic energy, electric charge.
Engines, motors and turbines. Basic principle: second law of thermodynamics. Internal Combustion Engines. Fuel Cells. Electric motors. Trains, planes, buses, trucks, cars (efficiencies of various transportation methods). Well to wheel efficiency. Transportation of energy (electricity, pipes, hydrogen economy).
Conventional Energy Sources and Usage. Usage in general (global breakdowns: by type, by country, by use). Fossil fuels (sources, quantities, uses). Nuclear resources. Reactor design. Basic principles: nuclear reactions and reactors, extraction techniques and energy costs, conversion losses, Hubbert’s peak and other models for estimating the exhaustion of a resource. Pros and cons of nuclear.
Renewable resources. Solar. Hydro. Geothermal. Wind. Biomass. (amounts available, how each works, potential for development, extraction, etc.) Other (waves, tides, etc.) Basic principles: Photoelectric effect, photo cells, solar thermal, Biodiesel, plant efficiency, ethanol, cellulose, windmill dynamics.
Climate. Geology, Climate History, Malancovich cycles, ice and sea cores (isotope data, organic data). Ocean circulation. Clouds. Greenhouse effect. Other forcings. Climate change (short and long term). Elements of climate modeling. Discussion of the IPCC. Basic principles: isotopes, Coriolis effect, radiation revisited: blackbody radiation.
Risk assessment. Flu. Death rates. Meteors. Accident rate tables. Fault tree analysis. Economics. Stablization wedges.