Transcript Slide 1

Big Bang, Black
Holes, No Math
ASTR/PHYS 109
Dr. David Toback
Lecture 1
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Introduction
Topic 1: Introduction
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Before we start…
•Get comfortable… we will be
using the full lecture time
today
•Studies show that the
students who sit up front get
the best grades
– They also tell you WHY
Introduction
– http://people.physics.tamu.edu/toback/TeachingArticle/PerkinsWieman_PT.pdf
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Overview
1.What this course is really
about and why I’m teaching
it
2.How the course is organized
3.Stuff you’ll need for the
course and the next lecture
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Big Picture
This course is really designed to
teach the wonder and
excitement of the universe
around us
• I want it to be understandable
• By the end of the course, I
want you to be able to
communicate the understanding
AND the excitement
to others 4
Introduction
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The Story
•I think in terms of stories as
well as questions and their
answers
The story of how the
Universe came to be
the way is now
•We have a good degree of
confidence in this story
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Some of the Questions
• How did the Universe come to exist?
• A Big Bang occurred… then what?
• How did we get from a Big Bang ~14
billion years ago to the Universe we have
today?
• What are black holes REALLY?
• What are dark matter and dark energy?
• Is the Universe REALLY expanding? Will
it contract again and we’ll all die?
Introduction
• Should I be worried?
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Questions and Evidence
•These are important
questions for all for
humankind
•Everyone should know about
(some of) these questions
and what we know about the
answers
•You should also know
something
about
the
evidence
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Aside before we continue
• I will admit I have a bone to pick… I think
there is WAY too much ignorance about
science and too much science phobia
– I prefer a world where there is evidencebased decision making
• Some of the many problems:
1. Physics taught for people to USE rather
than enjoy (physicists/engineers in
training)
2. Learning to DO physics requires math,
and lots of it, which makes it un-fun for
many people
3. Often taught by people who have
whatIntroduction
it was like to not
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Topic 1: Introduction
Holes, Nounderstand
Math
Communicating the Excitement
• A great deal of the understanding
can be had WITHOUT the math
– You can enjoy music without being
a musician or a composer
• As future leaders I want you to be
able to go out into the world and
effectively teach your senators,
friends, co-workers, etc. why this
stuff is exciting and important
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Introduction
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Back to the Course
This course is designed to
teach you about the Big
Bang, Black Holes, Dark
Matter, Dark Energy, and
other stuff, and to do it
without the Math
Next talk about HOW we’ll do it…
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Introduction
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Being a Detective
• Want you to use evidence to make decisions
like a detective (Sherlock, Elementary,
Criminal Minds, CSI, NCIS, Bones, House,
Law & Order, others…)
– Don’t need you know HOW to do DNA tests
– Do need you to understand that DNA tests
(using blood from the scene of the crime)
can tell us whose blood it is)
• Can we put together evidence that would
convince a jury?
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What’s the Evidence?
• What is the evidence that the Big Bang
actually occurred?
• What is the evidence that supports our
understanding of the “history” of the
Universe?
• What is the EVIDENCE for little things
we can’t see directly with our own eyes?
– Atoms, protons, electrons, Dark
Matter
– Black Holes
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Course Content
These are REALLY big
questions
• We want to know
what we observe in
the universe
– Big and Small
• To do this we need to
understand some of
the most important
ideas in science
– Quantum Mechanics
– General Relativity
– Others
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Don’t worry
•Don’t worry… we aren’t going to
do ALL of physics in a semester
•We aren’t going to ask you to
calculate anything
•What we want is for you to
understand, and re-tell, the
story and explain some of the
evidence
Introduction
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How the course is organized
Next few slides are on
course organization,
grades etc…
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Class Time
• We meet from 5:45PM to
7:00PM
• Will use the full time
period
• I expect you to be on
time and prepared for
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class
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Coming to Class
• Need you to be proactive DURING
class!! Get into it and have fun
• If you need sugar or caffeine go
for it… just do it quietly
– Candy/Soda machine just outside
the door at the top of the steps
• Laptops will only be allowed in the
first 5 rows, and with explicit
permission
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Class Time
• Lecture will be a time where you and I
interact by asking and answering each
others questions
• You will need prepare BEFORE lecture
– Do the reading assignments
– Write down, and turn in online, questions
on the reading
• “Pre-Lecture Reading Questions”
– Be ready to be answer questions in class
using a clicker
• If you don’t understand something, ask a
question in class!
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Course Work
You will:
• Read about the Big Bang and Black
Holes in the books
• Ask and discuss questions before,
during and after class
• Answer some questions in paper format,
and learn to be a critic of excellent
writing
• Take quizzes online about the material
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Course WebSite
Course Home Page
faculty.physics.tamu.edu/toback/109
Most things can be found there… if you
can’t find it, send me email at
[email protected]
Syllabus is also
on Howdy
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Introduction
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Textbooks
Required Textbook
• Big Bang, Black Holes, No Math (Toback)
• Extra credit for students who email me corrections which
make it better
• eBook or paper is fine. Can order now at
bigbang.physics.tamu.edu
Recommended books
• Briefer History of Time (Hawking)
• The Science of Interstellar (Thorne)
• Theory of Everything (Hawking)
• Stephen Hawking’s Universe (Filkin)
• The First Three Minutes (Weinberg)
• Other readings on the Web
Make sure you get the most up-to-date versions of each (see
webpage)
– Not “Brief History”, Briefer History
– I find purchasing them online is much cheaper
– Paperbacks
available for
most
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Grades
• I like for my students to do well and I like
giving lots of good grades
• It will be a lot of work, so if you don’t
want to keep up with the class every day,
work hard and stretch your mind, you
should drop now
• I’ll expect you to keep at it until you get it
right
• Do all the work and I’ll make it worth your
while, both in terms of fun and your grade
– If you blow off the easy stuff or don’t
ask for help when you need it, then I’m
unlikely to have much sympathy when you
ask for a grade Introduction
change at the end of the
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semester
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Grades
The course grade will be:
1.Short Papers: 90%
2.In-class quizzes and PreLecture Reading Questions
Assignments: 5%
3.End-of-Chapter, and other
online quizzes: 5%
No in-class exams or final
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Requirements to Pass the Course
• Some things need to be turned in to pass the course
– All the stages for each Paper Assignment (in CPR)
– All the End-Of-Chapter quizzes
– Pre-Lecture Reading Question Assignment for Unit 1
• Some things MUST get a passing grade to pass the
course
– All End-Of-Chapter quizzes and Pre-Lecture Reading
Questions for Unit 1
• Some things in the course are pass/fail the first time,
but are for a grade after that
– Unit 1 PLRQ
• Note: you are allowed (but not encouraged) to get
Introduction
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zero on the later
PLRQ assignments
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Papers
•Will talk more about the
papers as we get closer to
doing them
•If you want to learn more
about them now, go to the
FAQ page
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Regular and Honors Sections
• Regular sections
– ASTR 109-501
– PHYS 109-501
• Honors sections
– ASTR 109-200
– PHYS 109-200
There is no difference between the
Physics and Astronomy sections (All
meet together)
Students in the honors section will have
an extra research paper – See Course
Introduction
Big WebPage
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Recitation
• No recitation for this course
• However, there are assistants who
are here for you to ask questions,
get help with your eCampus work
and give you feedback on your
paper drafts
– Katrina Colletti and Xuji Zhao
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Lab – ASTR/PHYS 119
• You are not required to take the Lab for this
course
• Useful if you want to use this course as a
Tier 2 science course, or just want to learn
more/get more in-depth
• Two different sections, pick one
– Tuesday: 12:45PM-2:45PM
– Wednesday: 12:40PM-2:40PM
• Will meet this week
• You need to read the lab Manual and do
BEFORE lab
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More about the various
assignments
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Pre-Lecture Reading Questions
• It is important to learn how to ask good science
questions, and to be well prepared for Lecture
• For these reasons we will have a number of PLRQ
Assignments
• Will be turned in online
– Will be doing a full Unit at a time
– Each assignment has 2 stages (more on this later)
– Will us the Calibrated Peer Review (CPR) system
(more on this later also)
• There is a set of guidelines on what we are looking
for on the websites, and practice quizzes online
before we start
– You will be responsible for reading instructions
before next class
– First set is Pass/Revise, you have to keep redoing
them
until you get Introduction
a passing score
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Topic 1: Introduction
In-Class Quizzes
There will frequently be in-class quizzes
• Most will be done with an iClicker
– Can buy the old ones
– Register with your UIN at
http://www.iclicker.com/support/regis
teryourclicker/ (we will be using
eCampus)
• We will some times do written answers
– Bring a sheet of lined paper and a
pen everyday
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End-of-Chapter Quizzes in eCampus
• There are End-of-Chapter quizzes for
each chapter
– Helps ensure you have a good
knowledge of some of the important
FACTS for each chapter
– Will be done online, using eCampus
– Are assigned AFTER we finish the
chapter in lecture, and due before
the next lecture
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End-of-Chapter Quizzes Cont.
Bad news:
• To pass the course you need to get
a perfect score on all of them
Good news:
• You can take as many attempts as
you want until you get a perfect
score
• I will only count your best score
I REALLY want you to learn and get
good grades!
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More on eCampus Quizzes
• There are free warm-up quizzes before the End-of-Chapter
quizzes
– Need a 100% on them (don’t worry… they are easy)
• There will be a course pre-test called AMS (Astronomy
Misconception Survey) AFTER you finish the warm up
– Please do your best. Won’t count as part of your grade. We
just want to know what you know coming into the course
• After these are done you will get a set of CPR and PRLQ
quizzes
– Instruction quizzes
– Practice Quizzes
• When these are done you will be able to get to the End-ofChapter Quizzes
– First one is Chapter 2 (no chapter 1 quiz)
– EOC quizzed due AFTER we finish the chapter in lecture
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Review: Plan for Each Chapter
Example for Next Time
• Before Lecture:
– Read Chapters 1-4 in BBBHNM (Unit 1)
– Write down FOUR questions for Unit 1
• Will give more instructions on how to submit CPR next time,
don’t need to turn this in during class. Just hold on to them
for now
– Do the warm-up eCampus quizzes
• During Lecture
– Listen & Ask Questions
– Take clicker and other quizzes
– More CPR/PLRQ Instructions
• After Lecture
– If we finish Chapter 2, then take End-of-Chapter quiz 2 in
eCampus
– PLRQ for Unit 1 in CPR
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Typical Order of Things to Do!
Things will be a little different for the first week, but
here is the general picture
Write PLRQ
Questions and
Submit to CPR
(stage 1)
before due
date
Read Chapters
for the whole
Unit
After Stage 1 due
date, do Stage 2 of
CPR for PLRQ
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Go to Lecture,
take in-class
Clicker quizzes
and actively
participate
After we finish a
chapter in Lecture,
do the End-ofChapter Quiz in
eCampus
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Just for Fun…
• We have created a “just for fun” Facebook account
for students (past, present and future) who want to
stay in touch with the course
• Learning about the Big Bang and Black Holes Without
the Math
• It’s not part of the course, but I try to post fun,
related things there periodically
– If you send me something fun (and appropriate)
I’ll post it for everyone
– If you send me something fun, but inappropriate,
I’ll say thank you and just enjoy privately
• Also, lots of fun stuff on
http://people.physics.tamu.edu/toback/109/Video/
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Frequently Asked Question Page
• Can be found on the main course page
• http://faculty.physics.tamu.edu/toback/109/1
09FAQ.shtml
• In general, you should check there if
you have a question about the course or
assignments before emailing
– Don’t want to highlight to your
professor you haven’t done the
reading when you email
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Next Time…
• Start with in-class written
quiz and in-class iClicker quiz
• Talk more about eCampus
and CPR stuff
– End-of-Chapter Quizzes
– PLRQ Assignments
• Lecture is on Chapter 2
• The Very Big
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Prep for Lecture 2 Pop Quiz
The in-class quiz at the beginning of the
next class on will contain at least two
of the following questions:
• Why are you taking this class?
• What do you most want to know
about?
– Be prepared to answer these two
honestly (there are no right
answers, and don’t tell me what
you think I want to hear)
• Are you taking ASTR/PHYS 119?
Why/Why not?
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Prep for Next Time – L1
• Reading:
– Required: BBBHNM: Chapter 1-4
– Recommended Reading:
• BHOT: Chap. 1-3
• SHU: Chap. 1-2
• TOE: Chap. 1
– Pre-Lecture Reading Questions
• Read Instructions on what kinds of questions we are looking for at
• http://people.physics.tamu.edu/toback/109/Question_Guideline_109_CPR.pdf
• Write down 4 questions on paper from Unit 1 (Chapters 1-4) or the
recommended reading
– Instructions on what to do with them next time
• eCampus:
– Read eCampus Instructions on the main course page
– Complete Warm-up quizzes, AMS, CPR and PLRQ quizzes in eCampus
• Other Prep:
– Make sure you are receiving email using the Official A&M email, will use it
for class announcements
– BringBlack
lined paper and your iClicker
to the next class
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Full Set of Readings So Far
• Required: BBBHNM: Chap 1-4
• Recommended:
– BHOT: Chap. 1-3
– SHU: Chap. 1-2
– TOE: Chap. 1
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Prep for Lecture 2 Pop Quiz
The in-class quiz at the beginning of the next class on
will contain at least two of the following questions:
• Why are you taking this class?
• What do you most want to know about?
– Be prepared to answer these two honestly
(there are no right answers, and don’t tell me
what you think I want to hear)
• How many pages are there in the “Pre-Lecture
Reading Question Grading Guidelines”?
• What is the webpage for the “physics department
eCampus instructions?”
• What is the website for the BBBHNM book?
• Are you taking ASTR/PHYS 119? Why/Why not?
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End-of-Chapter Quizzes in eCampus
• There will be End-of-Chapter quizzes
for each chapter
– Will help ensure you understood each
chapter
– Are assigned AFTER we finish the
chapter in lecture, and due before
the next lecture
• Will be done online, using eCampus
• Before we start on them, we will do
practice in Introduction
eCampus
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NetID Account
You will need a netID
account
• You are responsible for
checking it periodically
for email
• Will use it for eCampus
stuff and turning in your
papers
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Books continued…
• Again, the goal of this course isn’t
to understand Everything about the
Universe (that would mean
understanding ALL of physics) but
to be able to understand enough of
it to be able to tell the story
• If you don’t understand something,
ask a question in class!
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The Big Questions
• What do we really know about the
universe? How do we know it?
Where did the universe come from?
Where is it going?
• Did the universe have a beginning?
If so, what happened before then?
• What is the nature of time? Will it
come to an end?
• Can we go backward in time?
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Just getting started…
• It’s tough to be energetic this time
of the day!!
• I like enjoying class, so I’ll work hard
for this to be fun for all of us
• I’ll try to take one break per class
for humor, and often show short
video clips at the beginning (please be
on time)
– You guys will need to send me good
videos and jokes, I don’t have
enough!
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Stuff You’ll Need for the Course
1. In general
2. For the next lecture
and the weeks after
that
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