Energy

Semester and Year	SP 2010
Course Number	IDSEM-UG1575
Section	001
Instructor	Matthew Stanley
Days	Mon,Wed
Time	12:30 PM - 1:45 PM
Units	4.0
Level	U
Foundation Requirement

Description

Energy makes the world work. Originally an obscure concept of natural philosophy, energy has become the foundation for our international economy, social structures, political policy, and everyday life. Energy explains how cars run, the sun shines, and our cell phones ring, but also why Saudi princes are wealthy and Iowa corn farmers receive massive government subsidies. This course examines the gradual realization of energy as a physical concept, its materialization in the engines of the industrial revolution, the construction of an energy infrastructure for electricity and oil, and the emergence of energy as the focus of economic and political conversation. We will use simple equations and math to learn what energy is and the laws that govern it, and how those simple equations help us understand the amazingly complex industrialized world in which we live. We will discuss energy production, transmission and use, and grapple with the problem of alternative energy in technical, social, and political detail.

Course Type

Interdisciplinary Seminars (IDSEM-UG)