Undergraduate Courses

This is a foundational course for students in B.Sc. mathematical and physical sciences majors. The disciplines of Mathematics and Physics are taught in an integrated fashion that demonstrates how they support and enrich one another. Atomic structure, algebra and trigonometry, forces and Newton's laws, functions and graphing, differentiation, angular momentum and energy conservation, limits, integration, kinematics, and special relativity are presented in a harmonized fashion to ensure students have an improved understanding of these fundamentals.

This is the second foundational course for students in B.Sc. mathematical and physical sciences majors. The disciplines of Mathematics and Physics are taught in an integrated fashion that demonstrates how they support and enrich one another. Thermodynamics, integration, electrostatics, partial derivatives, multidimensional integrals, simple harmonic motion, Taylor's series, and spectroscopy are presented in a harmonized fashion to ensure students have an improved understanding of these fundamentals.

This course introduces students to the emerging field of nanoscience. Its representation in popular culture and journalism will be contrasted with the present and near future realities in the field. Current industrial and business applications will be discussed. Guest lectures will be given by faculty performing research in the field. The course also aims to help students in their transition to the academic life by emphasizing skills and values such as academic integrity and problem solving and by actively connecting their first-year science core courses to the field of nanoscience.

This is a course for physical science students on the phenomena of electromagnetism, waves and introductory quantum physics. Topics include electric charges and fields, electric potential, capacitance, magnetic fields, electric circuits, waves, electromagnetic waves, quantization of light and other aspects of introductory quantum physics.

This course discusses physics of matter and energy at the macroscopic and microscopic levels, with special emphasis on topics of importance to the biological sciences. Topics include properties of waves, acoustics and hearing, optical systems and vision, quantum nature of radiation and its interaction with biomolecules, electricity, high energy radiation and radioactivity.

This course discusses aspects of classical physics with particular emphasis on topics of importance in the biological and environmental sciences. Topics include mechanics and applications to anatomical problems, fluid statics and dynamics, molecular motion, diffusion, osmosis, and heat.

This course is for engineering and environmental science students, and uses some calculus in analytic problem-solving. Topics include simple harmonic motion, waves, acoustics, optics, properties and absorption of electromagnetic radiation, blackbody radiation, solar spectrum and flux, electric field and potential, DC circuits, power transmission, nuclear processes, and radioactivity.

This course introduces students to fundamental phenomena in physics, with particular emphasis on applications to the biological sciences. Topics include: analyzing one-dimensional and two-dimensional motion; Newton’s laws; momentum, energy and associated conservation laws; interactions between charges, resistive direct-current circuits; the fundamentals of waves, with applications to acoustics; ionizing radiation, radioactivity and medical applications. This course is designed for students who have not completed 4U Physics (or equivalent): students with credit in 4U Physics (or equivalent) may not take this course for credit.

This course is designed for non-science students. Emphasis will be on the interdisciplinary and contemporary aspects of astronomy with the object of providing a perspective of our place in the physical universe. Topics will include the solar system, stars and stellar evolution, pulsars, black holes, quasars and cosmology. Students are encouraged to suggest and participate in discussion on items of special interest. Offered through Distance Education format only.