PHYS 109
Sound, Light, and Perception Spring 2024
Division III Quantitative/Formal Reasoning
This is not the current course catalog

Class Details

Light and sound allow us to perceive the world around us, from appreciating music and art to learning the details of atomic structure. Because of their importance in human experience, light and sound have long been the subject of scientific inquiry. How are sound and light related? How do physiology and neural processing allow us to hear and see the world around us? What are the origins of color and musical pitch? This course introduces the science and technology of light and sound to students not majoring in physics. We will start with the origins of sound and light as wave phenomena, and go on to topics including color, the optics of vision, the meaning of musical pitch and tone, and the physical basis of hearing. We will also discuss some recent technological applications of light, such as lasers and optical communications. The class will meet for two 75-minute periods each week for a variable mixture of lecture, discussion, and hands-on, interactive experiments.
The Class: Format: lecture; The two weekly class sections will be located in a space suitable for both lecture and hands-on laboratory-style work
Limit: 20
Expected: 20
Class#: 3376
Grading: yes pass/fail option, yes fifth course option
Requirements/Evaluation: class participation, problem sets, in-class midterm, oral presentations, and a final exam, all with a quantitative component
Prerequisites: none
Enrollment Preferences: non-science majors
Distributions: Division III Quantitative/Formal Reasoning
QFR Notes: This class will have frequent problem sets requiring substantial quantitative reasoning

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