EESC 2200 Homework

Assignments

  1. Weathering and erosion: the role of water.
  2. Buoyancy and Denudation

Homework Guide

Homework for a given week is due at the beginning of the lecture, one week after the topic was introduced. Each question should be answered on a separate sheet, and should include your name. In addition to necessary graphs and maps, your answers should include at least one paragraph of explanation. You should also reference all sources of information that you used in formulating your answer.

The problem sets require a certain amount of library research in order to find the necessary facts needed for their solution. Please do the research; do not guess the answers. (Would you want New York city to guess the maximum safe lead concentration in the drinking water?). The books in which the various information can be found include:

  1. Handbooks
    • CRC Handbook of Physics and Chemistry
    • CRC Standard Math Tables
    • CRC Handbook of Environmental Control
    • CRC Handbook of Material Science
    • The Geological Society of Americas's Handbook of Physical Constants
  2. Specialized Encyclopedia and Atlases
    • The Times Atlas of the World, Comprehensive Edition
    • Fairbridge, The Encyclopedia of Atmospheric Sciences and Astrogeology
    • Fairbridge, The Encyclopedia of Oceanography
    • Frye, The Encyclopedia of Mineralogy
    • James, The Encyclopedia of Solid Earth Geophysics
    • Oliver and Fairbridge, The Encyclopedia of Climatology
  3. Textbooks:
    • Environmental Science Texts, including:
      • Holland & Petersen, Living Dangerously. 1995
      • Chiras, Environmental Science, 1998
    • Geology Texts, including:
      • McGeary & Plummer, Earth Revealed, 1998
      • Anderson, Marine Geology, 1988
      • Press & Siever, Earth, 1982
    • Geography Texts, including:
      • Strahler, Physical Geography, 1969
    • Physics Textbooks, including:
      • Halliday & Resnick, Fundamentals of Physics, 1970

We recommend that you take the following strategy:

  1. Write down the general idea behind each problem. Drawing a simple picture sometimes helps.
  2. Write down a list of the information that you need for each problem, including formula, physical constants, conversion factors, etc.
  3. Go the the library and look up the information. Note that you want to go to the Geology Library on the 6th floor of Schmerhorn (although Engineering or Physics might also have the information). The branches that specialize in English Literature or Art History probably won't have the right stuff. Remember to write down the reference to the information (including page number).
  4. Solve the problems, paying special attention to units or measure.
  5. Write up the solution (include references).

Updated February 8, 2008
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