I-142
Fall 2001

Tom Dennis

Katherine Dorfman

Ron Zissel

Week of

Topics

Reading
9/10 Lucretius and the mechanical philosophy Selected Readings, Ch 1
On the Nature of Things (Project Gutenberg)
9/17 Newton's Theory of Color:
Rays differently refrangible		 Newton's Colors
Prism Refraction
9/24 Eyes and other optical instruments Reflection of light;
Refraction of light;
Anatomy, Physiology, & Pathology of the Human Eye;
The Human Eye: A Design Review;
How refractive vision problems work;
How telescopes work;
Anatomy of the microscope
10/1 Color mixing and color perception;
Color from black and white		 Color mixing at Truscio;
Color mixing program at East Illinois
10/8

Mid Semester Break
10/15 Color index; parallax; luminosity; the standard candle; cepheids; H-R diagrams
10/22 Waves & slits;
continuous spectra		 The Nature of a Wave;
Interference
10/29 Electricity & magnetism Basic Electricity and Magnetism
11/5 Is a neuron a wire? Lights, Camera, Action Potential
11/12  Photoelectric effect;
Planck's Law; temperature of stars;
continuous vs. line spectra		 Photolectric Effect (Guelph);
Color Temperature
11/19 Quantum Mechanics;
Thanksgiving Break		 Quantum Mechanics
11/26 Visual pigments Breaking the Code of Color
12/3 Genes, DNA, and evolution Protein synthesis
12/10 The Hubble Law