Chem and the Environment Weekly Assignments

For Friday, Apr. 30: Please read "The Darkening Sea", by E. Kolbert, posted in E-reserves. From the linked page, click on "Read the full text of this article in the digital edition" to access the full article.

For Monday, May 3: Please read "Arsenic Crisis in Bangladesh," by A. Mushtaque and R. Chowdhury, and "Bangladesh mass poisoning mystery solved," by F. Pearce, both posted in E-Reserves.

For Wednesday, May 5: Please read "How Green are Green Plastics?" by T. Gerngross and S. Slater, posted in E-reserves.

For Friday, May 7: The two articles by D. Biello posted in E-reserves, "What Is Geoengineering and Why Is It Considered a Climate Change Solution?" and "Grappling with the Anthropocene: Scientists Identify Safe Limits for Human Impacts on Planet" are strongly recommended.

The article mentioned in class on Monday on energy use in China, "China's Energy Paradox," is posted in E-reserves. It is recommended only, and there is no due date, so it is posted at the top of the list. 

For Monday, Apr. 19: Please review the article from earlier this semester, "The Case of the Missing Carbon," by Tim Appenzeller, in the E-reserves section for our discussion with Prof. Wofsy on Monday. Please bring with you to our afternoon discussion 2 to 3 questions for Prof. Wofsy.

Also, from your textbook, please read Chapter 8, Intro thru Section 8.4 (pp. 356 - 376) and the part of Section 8.6 on "Odd Electron Molecules" (pp. 385 bottom - 388 top).

Project plans are due in class on Monday.

For Wednesday, Apr. 21: Please read Sections 10.2 (pp. 472 - 476) and 10.5 (pp. 481 - 482 only) in your textbook. 

For Monday, Apr. 26: Please read Section 10.3 in the textbook and complete the following problems: Chapter 8, #8.32, 36, 38, 42, 54, 56, 72, 100, 102, Chapter 10, #10.24, 40, 55, 63.

We have spent the last few weeks learning about the composition and chemistry of the atmosphere. In the process, we have also learned about the complex interrelationships between different environmental threats, such as ozone loss and the greenhouse effect, and between the atmosphere and other components of the Earth system. This week, we will further explore this theme by investigating the causes of smog, which also have implications for everything from water and soil chemistry to decreasing biodiversity and global warming.

For Friday, Apr. 9: Please read the following two short articles, posted in E-reserves: Pearce, "Dark Future," and "Where is America's smog coming from?." Also posted is the scientific article from Nature on which the second of these  is based, "Increasing springtime ozone mixing ratios in the free troposphere over western North America." Please read the abstract of the Nature article, and look at the color figures included in the main body. Of course, you are welcome to read the entire paper if you wish. 

For Monday, Apr. 12: We will finish discussing the articles from Friday on smog production, and begin investigating the global nitrogen cycle more generally. Please read Townsend and Howarth, "Fixing the Global Nitrogen Problem," in E-reserves.

For Wednesday, Apr. 14: The problem posted below will be due in class. Please try to start on it before discussion on Monday so that if you have any questions we can discuss them then.

For Friday, Apr. 16: Please read pp. 282 - 283 in your textbook, "Nitrogen: Feeding Plants and Inflating Air Bags."

For Wednesday, Mar. 31: Your summary of the ozone hole activity from Monday is due in class.

For Friday, Apr. 2: We will spend some time talking about the final project. For these projects, you will research a campus, community-based, or global-scale environmental problem for which you will collect data, develop hypotheses, design experiments, and develop recommendations. Topics will be chosen by you after discussion with me. Some ideas for projects might be to assess the campus greenhouse gas inventory or determine the impact of air pollution generated by commuters to campus. Once a topic is chosen, each group will submit a project plan and meet with me to discuss it. After conducting the research, each group will write a final report and make a short presentation of their findings to the rest of the class. For Friday's class, begin to think about some ideas for projects you might be interested in working on.

No new reading for Friday. We will finish our discussion of the ozone hole.

For Monday, Apr. 5: Please read Pain, “The Man Who Discovered Greenhouse Gases,” Hansen, “Defusing the Global Warming Time Bomb,” and Brahic, “Flat-Screen TVs Turn Up the Heat on Climate,” posted in E-reserves (two of these are quite short).

Say you were the manufacturer of a newly developed gas with industrial applications. Little is known about this gas. In a 1-2 pages, discuss the information that you would need to know about this compound in order to determine whether it would contribute significantly to the greenhouse effect. How would you go about determining its effects? What determines whether a gas should be regulated under the Kyoto protocol or a similar framework?

The atmosphere is a sensitive indicator of human perturbations to the environment. In the last 30 years, global environmental catastrophes such as the ozone hole, smog, and global warming have affected our ability to live in and breathe the air around us. To understand the atmosphere and changes to it, we first investigate the properties of gases. We have already discussed changes in atmospheric composition due to increases in man-made emissions of species such as greenhouse gases. It is also possible, however, to change the composition of the atmosphere by changing its chemistry. We will next investigate the nature of these changes and how they lead to such problems as the ozone hole and smog.

For Monday, Mar. 22: Begin reading the articles assigned for Wednesday. Review Sections 6.3 - 6.6 (pp. 246 - 270) in your textbook and begin the problems assigned for Wednesday. We will review similar problems in discussion on Monday. Examples can include Chapter 6, #6.3, 6.5, 6.13, 6.31, 6.35, 6.40, 6.44, 6.46, 6.59, 6.69, 6.79, 6.83, 6.85, 6.89, 6.94, 6.96, 6.99, 6.103, 6.107. It will be helpful if you have looked over these problems and identified the ones you have difficulty solving.

For Wednesday, Mar. 24: Please read Morell, “Ahead in the Clouds,” and Grossman, “Laughing Gas is Biggest Threat to Ozone Layer,” both posted in E-reserves.

Complete the following problems from your textbook: Chapter 6, #6.4, 6.12, 6.32, 6.36, 6.43, 6.60, 6.70, 6.80, 6.88, 6.90, 6.100, 6.104, 6.108.

For Friday, Mar. 1: There will be no class held on Friday because I have a schedule conflict. 

The midterm exam will be given Wednesday, 3/10 at 7:00 pm in Merrill 401.

The atmosphere is at the center of man-made environmental change. Everything from air pollution to ozone depletion to climate change are a direct result of changes in atmospheric composition. This week, we will begin our study of these issues and of the atmosphere past, present, and future.

For Friday, Mar. 5: Please read Allegre and Schneider, "Evolution of Earth," and Berardelli, "Alien Gases in our Atmosphere," both posted in E-reserves. Also begin reading Sections 6.1 - 6.2 (pp. 238 - 245) in your textbook.

For Monday, Mar. 8: Read Sections 6.3 - 6.6 (pp. 246 - 270) in your textbook.

We've learned that energy is not created or destroyed, simply transformed from one type to another. The energy stored in fossil fuels or biofuels ultimately comes from the sun and is trapped during photosynthesis. If the sun is such a large source of energy, why not use it directly? This week, we will talk about solar energy, its promise and its challenges. We'll also learn about how light interacts with matter on an atomic scale.

For Friday, Feb. 26: Please read Daviss, "Solar Power: The Future's Bright," posted in E-reserves. Also, from your textbook, read Sections 7.1 to 7.3 (pp. 298 - 310). Problems from this section will be due on Monday, Mar. 1.

For Monday, Mar. 1: Complete the following problems from your textbook: Chapter 7 # 7.14, 7.22, 7.24, 7.28, 7.32, 7.36, 7.38, 7.40.  

Also, select an article on solar energy from a mainstream newspaper or magazine (this may include news magazines or popular science magazines). The article should contain some discussion of solar cell science and technology or expand upon one of the advances discussed in the Daviss article. Each of you should aim to find something that will augment the class's understanding of solar power as an energy source. As a guideline, the article should be a minimum of one half a news sheet or two magazine pages. Write a 1 - 2 page summary discussing Daviss and your article and bring a copy of your article to hand in. Be prepared to contribute what you learned to Monday's class discussion on solar energy.

This week, we will be discussing hydrocarbons as energy sources. Why do these compounds make good fuels? How do we determine when the benefit (energy) obtained by burning a fuel outweighs the cost of obtaining it? How do we take the costs of side effects like greenhouse gas production into account?

For Monday, Feb. 15, please read Kunzig, "The Canadian Oil Boom: Scraping Bottom," and Magueri, "Squeezing More Oil from the Ground," both posted in E-reserves. In 1-2 pages, summarize the costs and benefits of mining oil sands, particularly in terms of energy output and environmental impacts.

For Wednesday, Feb. 17: Eubanks, “Chemistry in Context” (posted in E-reserves - it has a similar title, but is NOT our textbook!), Chapter 4, Section 4.1 – 4.6 (pp. 150 – 170).

For Friday, Feb. 19: Eubanks, “Chemistry in Context” (posted in E-reserves), Chapter 4, Section 4.7 – 4.11 (pp. 170 – 188). The problems from this chapter listed below will be due on Monday, Feb. 22.

For Monday, Feb. 22: Complete the following problems from “Chemistry in Context” (E-reserve) Chapter 4: #7, 9, 10, 13, 25, 27, 41, 53.

Also read Wenner, “The Next Generation of Biofuels” and the abstract only (although you are welcome to read the rest of the article if you wish) of Hill et al., “Environmental, Economic, and Energetic Costs and Benefits of Biodiesel and Ethanol Biofuels”, both posted in E-reserves.

In one or two pages, summarize the requirements that a biofuel must meet to be a viable and environmentally sound replacement for fossil fuels. Choose one alternative that seems to you to be the most promising. What are the technological challenges that must be overcome to make it commercially successful? What other issues (agricultural, logistical, etc.) must be dealt with?