Chem 134 is a general education course open to first-year students, sophomores, juniors, and seniors. There is an enrollment limit of 19 students. There are no formal prerequisites for this course except for a keen intellect and an interest in modern science. In a lecture and discussion format, we will be exploring the "weirdness" and "paradoxes" inherent in the science of quantum mechanics. Full disclosure: the instructor is a scientific realist and is skeptical of fantasy physics. We will be reading articles from the archives of Scientific American, and from books such as "What is Real?" by Adam Becker, "Beyond Weird," by Philip Ball, and "Through Two Doors at Once: The Elegant Experiment That Captures the Enigma of Our Quantum Reality," by Anil Ananthaswamy. At the end of the course, students will be expected to present 15-minute talks on a topic of their choosing loosely adhering to the theme of the course. |