PHYS 116 - The Universe and Its Structure

In this course we will be taking a whirlwind tour of the universe. We will explore our view of the universe from here on earth, and expand to peruse the menu of the types of objects that make up the universe including stars, black holes, galaxies, and more! We will explore how these things form, their unique lifecycles, and their eventual fates. We will also explore the history of the entire universe itself and how it is evolving. Throughout this exploration, we will learn about how it is we know what we know, and how science allows us to answer complex questions that range outside of our everyday experience.

Learning Goals

• Learn critical thinking skills, how to think, reason, and argue scientifically, using logic and observational evidence, and develop experience with quantitative reasoning and estimation.
• Understand the process of science: how we know what we know about the universe, and what we don’t yet know, and how to evaluate whether data and results are trustworthy.
• Gain knowledge and appreciation of the scope, scale, and phenomena of the physical universe, and be able to put into context discoveries that you might hear or read about later.
• Distinguish between the different types of objects that are present in the universe (e.g. stars, compact objects [black holes, neutron stars, white dwarfs], galaxies, etc.), describe their properties, characteristics, and lifecycles, how they are related, and how they are different.