Course Description
Summary
In this class we will explore the concepts of energy, entropy and quantization to discover how their dancing interplay determines the structure and dynamics of the world around us. Our aim will be to understand the organizing principles that drive all chemical and physical processes. Doing so inevitably involves mathematics, but the associated understanding goes beyond mathematics and is intimately linked to the use of language to clarify ideas. Thus, the work in this class will include the refinement of writing skills to clearly communicate scientific ideas in non-mathematical and non-technical language. Although mathematical expertise is not required in order to take this class, the reading and class discussions will often involve mathematics, and those students that are interested in applying and developing the associated mathematical skills will have ample opportunity to do so. There is no prerequisite for this course besides curiosity and a desire to understand what it is all about.
