Natural Disasters

3 units

A natural disaster is accounted a disaster because of the effects it has on life. Natural disasters occur in many forms, from extrinsic events such as a collision with a 10 km diameter asteroid to intrinsic events such as pandemics, both of which can destroy life on grand scales and both of which have definable origins that can be studied. A supernova is a titanic event, but it is part of the life cycle of a certain class of stars, is physically inevitable, and cannot be accounted as a disaster, unless your planet lies nearby and is thus extinguished by the associated phenomena of the supernova. Now that we know our galaxy contains as many as 40 billion habitable planets, a nearby supernova is a distinct possibility as a final catastrophe for some unlucky planet. During this course, we will explore a very wide range of natural disasters, studying the physical, chemical, and biological origins from which they arise, and survey their consequences, both expected and unexpected. Many of these topics have been the subject of a documentary or Hollywood film. We will view these online at WUSTL Box, as needed. We shall then dissect these events, real and proposed, with our knowledge of physics, chemistry, and biology and learn how these natural disasters fit into the natural scheme of events in the universe, and critique the documentaries and the films.