Only offered through the Division of Continuing Studies.

This course provides a broad overview of modern astronomy, from the Earth and the Solar System to the limits of the Universe. The course consists of four study units: 1) Fundamentals of Astronomy; 2) Galaxies and Cosmology; 3) The Stars; and 4) The Solar System. The course is presented in online delivery mode with multimedia elements. It has both a descriptive and quantitative component. The descriptive component is visually based, with extensive use of the recent astronomical imagery. The quantitative component involves a series of problem-solving modules. These modules permit the student to carry out elementary calculations relevant to our interpretation of astronomical phenomena.

Note: Distance Learning computer system requirements

Oscillatory motion is studied including: undamped and damped harmonic motion, forced harmonic motion and resonance, damped forced oscillations, standing and progressive waves, conditions for static equilibrium in two and three dimensions, and introduction to fluid statics and fluid dynamics.

There is a lab associated with this course.  Students choose from a wide variety of experiments that have been selected to teach in the principles of experimental measurement and to illustrate some fundamental physical concepts.

Course in intermediate electricity and magnetism beginning with concepts of electric and magnetic field and leading to Maxwell's equations in differential and integral form. The following topics are discussed: Alternating current circuits, complex impedance, RLC circuits, electric field, electric flux density, Gauss's law, electric potential, electric polarization, dielectrics and electric boundary conditions, magnetic field, magnetic flux density, magnetic vector potential, Biot-Savart law, Ampere's law, magnetic dipole, magnetization and magnetic boundary conditions, Faraday's law, displacement current, and Maxwell's equations in their final integral and differential forms. There is a lab associated with this course. Students choose from a wide variety of experiments that have been selected to teach the principles of experimental measurement and to illustrate some fundamental physical concepts.

Concepts in physics developed from 1900 are discussed including: relativistic kinematics and dynamics, space and time, Doppler effect, momentum and energy, particle aspects of electromagnetic radiation, wave aspects of particles, Rutherford and Bohr models of the atom, development of the Schrodinger equation, application of the Schrodinger equation to a particle in a box and finite potential wells, and tunnelling.  Models of the single and many electron atoms, molecules, nuclear structure and energetics of reactions. Radioactivity: alpha and beta decay, gamma emission.

There is a lab associated with this course.  Students choose from a wide variety of experiments that have been selected to teach in the principles of experimental measurement and to illustrate some fundamental physical concepts.

This course is identical to PHE225B except students do not take the experimental physics lab.

High level introduction to electromagnetism formulating the fundamental laws (Maxwell's Equations) in both integral and differential form, in vacuum and in material media.  Major topics include: Gauss's law, electric potential, electric dipole, polarization, electric boundary conditions, Poisson's and Laplace's equations, electrostatic boundary-value problems, Biot-Savart law, Ampère's law, Maxwell's equations for static EM fields, magnetic vector potential, magnetic forces, the Hall effect, magnetization, magnetic materials, magnetic boundary conditions, magnetic circuits and magnetic energy.

Only offered through the Division of Continuing Studies.

Broad overview of ocean climate at a level suitable for the non-physics student. Course begins with an introduction to plate tectonics and ocean topography, followed by an examination of how the unique properties of seawater and their controlling budgets lead to the formation of distinct water masses, drive the global surface and deep-water circulation, and control the characteristics of sea ice, and ice climatology. Discussions focus on periodic phenomena (waves and tides) and coastal waters, including a regional description of the tides and currents, water masses and, where applicable, ice climatology specific to the Pacific, Arctic, and Atlantic Coasts of Canada.

Note: Distance Learning computer system requirements