Ch/Ge 128: Cosmochemistry

Instructor:      Geoffrey A. Blake
                         165A South Mudd (x 6296)
Office Hours: 11 am-noon, M-F.
E-mail:            gab@gps.caltech.edu 

Teaching Assistant:

Danie Liang

Office: 156 South Mudd (x6447)

Office Hours: Wednesday, 1-4 p.m.

mcl@gps.caltech.edu

When offered: Spring quarter of 2005, 2:30-4 pm TTh
         (Classes run March 28rst to May 27th for seniors/graduate students).

Where offered: 162 S. Mudd.


This course will examine the chemistry of the interstellar medium, of protostellar nebulae, and of primitive solar system objects with a view towards establishing the chemical evolution of atoms in the interstellar radiation field to complex molecules and aggregates in the early solar system. Emphasis will be placed on identifying the physical conditions in various objects, time scales for physical and chemical change, chemical processes leading to change, observational constraints, and various models which attempt to describe the chemical state and history of cosmological objects in general and the early solar system in particular.


Target audience: Beginning graduate students and advanced undergraduates in the Divisions of Chemistry & Chemical Engineering, Geological & Planetary Sciences and Physics, Mathematics & Astronomy as well as other students throughout Caltech.



Grades will be based on three bi-weekly problem sets and a final exam. The final exam will consist of a written part, and a 10-15 minute talk on a subject of your choice connected to the course.


Problem Set #1: Handed out ~4/07/05; due ~4/21/05.
Problem Set #2: Handed out ~4/21/05; due ~5/05/05.
Problem Set #3: Handed out ~5/05/05; due ~5/19/05.
Final Presentations: June 1-3, 2005.