Undergraduate courses

 

Environmental Physics (Fall 2014-15)

 

Planet Earth and the origins of its environment. Formation of solid, liquid and gaseous elements. The terrestrial atmosphere, hydrosphere and lithosphere. Physical principles of environmental problems. Natural forces. Air pollution. Atmospheric cycles of basic forms of waste. Chemical reactions of gaseous pollutants. Atmospheric ozone. Ozone layer hole. Size distributions of particles. Mechanisms of removal of atmospheric pollutants. Boundary layer. Mixing-length theory. Turbulent flow. Reynolds number. Air pollution and Meteorology. Models of transport, diffusion and deposition. Influence of temperature stratification on diffusion. Influence of meteorological parameters. Pollution drains. Acid rain. Influence of pollution on weather and climate. Influence of pollution on health, plant and animal environment. Radioactive pollution. Noise pollution. Physics and pollution of water (sea, lake, river). Diluted gases. Chemical cycles. Chemical reactions. Bacteriological water pollution. Chemical pollution. Energy and pollution. Environmental impact. Physics and soil pollution.

 

 

Differential equations (Spring 2014-)

 

Ordinary first-order differential equations. Second order differential equations, Newton formula, applications. Special methods for equations with constant factors, Fourier series, Laplace transformations, applications. Partial differential equations. Separation of variables, series solutions, Frobenius method. Basic functions as solutions to differential equations. Applications of partial differential equations in physics. Simple systems of differential equations.

 

 

Vector Calculus (Spring 2016-) 

 

Vector in Cartesian, cylindrical and spherical coordinates. Vector transformation under rotation of the coordinate system. Vector products and vector identities. Motion of a point particle on a plane. Differential calculus of scalar and vector fields: Directional derivative, gradient (in Cartesian, cylindrical and spherical coordinates), vector differential operator, divergence, curl, Laplacian, product rules. Double, triple integrals and applications. Change of variables and Jacobian determinant. Line and surface integrals. Fundamental integral theorems for the gradient, divergence and curl with applications in Physics.

 

 

Fluid Mechanics (Spring 2014-)   

 

Basic principles of fluid mechanics. Statics of fluids. Kinematics of moving fluids. Equations of motion of moving fluids. Two and three dimensional flows. Flow of viscous fluids. Stress components of a real fluid. Equations of motion of a real fluid. Dimensional analysis. Non-dimensional parameters (Reynolds number, Froude number, Richardson number). Compressible flow. Thermodynamics of fluids. Elements of Magneto-hydrodynamics. Applications.

 

 

Graduate courses

 

Micrometeorology (Spring 2014-)   

 

The Atmospheric Boundary Layer (ABL): description and importance. Sources of turbulence in the ABL. Equations of motion and thermodynamics. Qualitative and quantitative investigation of thermal instability in the ABL. Statistical description of the ABL. Prandtl’s mixing length theory. Ekman layer (and Ekman spiral). Surface layer and logarithmic law. Monin-Obukhov theory for the neutrally and the stably stratified ABL. The influence of the ABL on the free atmosphere. Energetics in the ABL. Parameterization of the ABL.

 

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