PHYS 214 - Planets and Life
Index to lecture notes
PHYS 214 notes will appear here as the course is being taught.
Lecture 1 (pdf) (ppt):
Course outline,
supplemental information, the Drake Equation.
Lecture 2 (pdf) (ppt):
Astronomical
measurements, distances, units, Celestial Sphere & the Seasons.
Note movies will need to be downloaded from here.
Lecture 3 (pdf) (ppt):
Parallax, the magnitude system, atomic absorption and emission, Doppler
shift.
Lecture 4 (pdf) (ppt):
Cosmology, expansion of the Universe, Hubble's Law, size of the observable
Universe, Olber's Paradox, geometry of the Universe
Lecture 5 (pdf) (ppt): From the
earliest moments following the Big Bang to the formation of galaxies.
Movies can be downloaded here,
here,
and here.
Lecture 6 (pdf) (ppt):
Philosophical discussions, selection effects and the Cosmological
Anthropic Principle
Lecture 7 (pdf) (ppt):
Video: PBS Origins series: Back to the Beginning
Lecture 8 (pdf) (ppt):
Stars: stellar properties & classification, fusion and the p-p chain
Lecture 9 (pdf) (ppt):
Star formation, stellar evolution, supernovae and the rate of formation of
stars (R)
Lecture 10 (pdf) (ppt):
Defintion of habitable zones, calculation of the radiation balance model,
HZ predicted by the radiation balance model, model shortcomings
Lecture 11 (pdf) (ppt):
Effect of albedo, luminosity of star on the HZ, greenhouse effect and more
realistic estimates of the HZ, galactic habitable zones
Lecture 12 (pdf) (ppt): Formation of planets,
solar nebular theory, differentiation of the protostellar disk, matching predictions to
observations
Guest lecture (only png available at this time) Slides
1,
2,
3,
4,
5,
6,
7,
8,
9,
10,
11,
12,
13,
14,
15,
16,
17,
18,
19,
20,
21
Lecture 13 (pdf) (ppt):
Jovian planets, properties, relevance to life on Earth, possibilities for
life in the outer solar system
Lecture 14 (pdf) (ppt):
Terrestrial planets
Lecture 15
Video: PBS Origins series: Where are the Aliens?
Lecture 16 (pdf) (ppt):
Detecting extrasolar planets, brown dwarfs versus large planets,
Kepler's Laws of planetary motion, Doppler
technique
Lecture 17 (pdf) (ppt):
Alternatives to the Doppler technique: lensing, transits, direct detection
Future prospects for exoplanet surveys, constraining P_p and n_E
Lecture 18 (pdf) (ppt):
Classification of life, reproduction, evolution. Transfer of information
between generations. Thermodynamics of life.
Lecture 19 (pdf) (ppt):
Carbon vs Silicon based life, alternative solvents to water. Biochemistry
of LAWKI, sugars to DNA.
Lecture 20 (pdf) (ppt):
Creation of the first cells, prokaryotic cell versus the eukaryotic cell.
Geological timelines and influence of environment, including oxygen.
Guest lecture (pdf) (ppt):
Guest lecture by Virginia Walker on extremophiles.
Lecture 21 (pdf) (ppt):
Midterm review
Lecture 22 (pdf) (ppt):
Earth History: Formation of Moon, supply of water, evolution of
atmosphere, plate tectonics, snowball Earth. Movies can be downloaded
from here
and here.
Lecture 23 (pdf) (ppt):
Rare Earth Hypothesis: might we actually be alone? Components of the REH,
criticisms.
Lecture 24 (pdf) (ppt):
Looking for life on Mars: Viking lander experiments & more recent
missions. Martian meteorite controversy. You can download the movies from
here and
here
Lecture 25 (pdf) (ppt):
Titan: Atmosphere composition, geography, possibility of life. Value of
space missions, Cassini-Huygens mission.
Lecture 26 (pdf) (ppt):
Jupiter's icy moons, with a focus on Europa. Subsurface ocean, possibility
for life, energy source (tidal heating). Future missions.
You can download the movies from
here and
here
Lecture 27 (pdf) (ppt):
Constraining pl,pi,pc,T: probability
arguments for a high pl, open questions in evaluating
pi, speculation on pc. Comparison to human
decisions. You can download the movie here.
Lecture 28 (pdf) (ppt):
Estimates from the Drake Equation, N under different assumptions. Issues
to look out for. Average distance of civilizations apart. Time to colonize
galaxy
Lecture 29
Video: PBS Cosmos series: Encyclopedia Galactica
Lecture 30 (pdf) (ppt):
SETI: history, search methodologies, possible message encoding methods.
Funding questions, future outlook.
Lecture 31 (pdf) (ppt):
Very speculative ideas on civilizations, Kardashev classification, Dyson
spheres, possible human futures.
