ATM S 510/ESS 531 “Physics of Ice” (3 credits)

Course Announcement, Autumn 2010


General Information


Instructor: Stephen Warren, Professor, Dept. of Atmospheric Sciences

Schedule: T Th 10:30 AM – 11:50 AM; 406 ATG Building


Contact Information


Office: 524 ATG Building
Tel: 543-72300
sgw@atmos.washington.edu

Class Web Site: http://www.atmos.washington.edu/academics/classes/2010Q4/510.htm


General Information

 

This class provides an overview of the physical properties of ice and how they are related through the structure of the water molecules and their arrangement in ice.  The following topics will be covered, and related where appropriate to topics of current research interest at UW.

 

Structure of the water molecule; hydrogen bonds

Equilibrium thermodynamics:  Phase diagram for ice, crystal structure of ordinary ice

Other phases of ice (high pressure, low temperature) and their occurrence in the Solar System

Formation of ice from the vapor and from the liquid.

Optical properties of ice in ultraviolet, visible, infrared

Elastic and thermal properties, lattice vibrations

Ice surfaces: the ice-vapor interface, grain boundaries, veins and nodes

Defects and dislocations, and their effects:

Evolution of crystal shapes
Electrical properties
Mechanical properties
Migration of isotopes

Students will be assigned homework, a take-home midterm exam, and a term paper.


There is no required textbook.  Several reference books will be made available:

Petrenko and Whitworth:  Ice Physics

Fletcher:  The Chemical Physics of Ice

Hobbs:  Ice Physics

Eisenberg and Kauzmann:  The Structure and Properties of Water

 

Journal articles will be recommended as appropriate.