Course semester 2024 Fall 2024 Spring 2023 Fall 2023 Spring 2022 Fall 2022 Spring 2021 Fall 2021 Spring mod 2 2021 Spring mod 1 2020 Fall mod 2 2020 Fall mod 1 2020 Spring 2019 Fall 2019 Spring 2018 Fall 2018 Spring 2017 Fall 2017 Spring 2016 Fall 2016 Spring 2015 Fall 2015 Spring 2014 Fall 2014 Spring 2013 Fall 2013 Spring 2012 Fall 2012 Spring 2011 Fall 2011 Spring 2010 Fall
I. Why is the Climate Changing?
Macroscopic, atomic/molecular, and symbolic languages of chemistry. Chemical formulas, equations, and mole calculations. Gases.
(1M) Chemistry Languages
(1M) Activity 1: What is happening to the polar ice?
Cryosphere (NSIDC, PSC, NASA, NOAA, GCRP Data and Figures)
(1M) Activity 1: How much is the climate changing?
(2W) Lab 1: How much does air weigh?
(3F) Quiz 1
(4M) No Class - Labor Day
(5W) Lab 2: How are gas volume and pressure related?
(5W) Lab 3: How are gas volume and temperature related?
(5W) Activity 2: How are the atoms connected within atmospheric gas molecules?
(6F) Activity 3: What are the shapes of atmospheric gas molecules?
(6F) Quiz 2
(7M) Lab 4: Which gases absorb infrared waves?
(8W) Activity 4: What do atmospheric concentrations tell us about sources and sinks of greenhouse gases?
Gas Concentrations, Global Warming Potential, and Atmospheric Lifetime (table, jsmol, Movies)
Oxygen Concentrations (Scripps)
Sources and Sinks (Figures)
Methane Supercharges Climate Change , Living on Earth, September 2022 (Audio)
Methane, The Other Important Greenhouse Gas , C&E News , October 25, 2021 (pdf)
Cows and methane (Video)
Permafrost and methane (Video)
No laughing matter: nitrous oxide - another climate enemy (Video)
Are we stuck with cement? (link to The Outline, June 2018)
Can planting trees solve the climate crisis? BBC CrowdScience, January 2024 (20:00 Audio)
(8W) Lab 5: What happens when you breathe into water?
(9F) Activity 5: How do we balance the source and sink equations?
(9F) Quiz 3
(10M) Lab 6: Which recipe gives the most precipitate?
(10M) Activity 6: How much do sources and sinks contribute to rising greenhouse gas concentrations?
(11W) Activity 7: What are your personal contributions to CO2 emissions?
(11W) Demo: How much carbon dioxide is a mole?
(11W) Lab 7: How much carbon dioxide do you exhale in a year?
(12F) Quiz 4
II. Food and Fuel: Which Energy Sources Should We Use?
Covalent molecules and how they are transformed through chemical reactions. Intermolecular forces and functional groups. Bond strengths and calorimetry. Liquids.
(13M) Activity 8: How do chemists represent the structure of molecules?
What is Gasoline?
Chemical Formulas
(14W) Activity 9: How much heat is released upon fuel combustion?
(14W) Lab 8: Fuel Calorimetry
(15F) Quiz 5
(16M) Activity 10: Why do we make so much CO2 ?
(17W) Activity 11: What functional groups are in foods?
(18F) Quiz 6
(18F) Lab 9: Which household chemicals react the same way?
(19M) Lab 10: Can "like-attracts-like" be used to rank polarity?
(19M) Activity 12: How are functional groups, molecular sizes, and boiling points related?
(20W) Activity 13: What is Hydraulic Fracturing?
(21F) Quiz 7
Midterm
(22M) (23W) (24F) (25M) (26W) Lab 11, 12, 13, 14: Synthesis and Analysis: Is my Aspirin Pure?
(27F) Quiz 8
III. What Changes Can We Make to Decrease Environmental Impact?
Chemical periodicity, metals and ions, and light. Solids.
(28M) Activity 14: Why have metals been used through the ages? (Logan Museum)
(28M) Activity 15: Alternative Fuels
(29W) Activity 16: How should we make light?
Reading Groups : AEIMNR, BFJMOT, CGKMPS, DHLMQU (pdf)
Earlier articles do a better job explaining but remember to watch dates for the readings, especially when considering prices which dropped by more than 100x.
"A brilliant new approach ," The Economist , March 19, 2009
"Green Promise Seen in Switch to LED Lighting ," The New York Times , May 30, 2009
"Europe's Ban on Old-Style Bulbs Begins ," The New York Times , September 1, 2009
"Tiny semiconductor crystals, called quantum dots, enable new forms of energy-efficient lighting ," The Economist , March 4, 2010
"LED Lighting: Blue + Yellow = White " and "The Light bulb that really is a better idea ," IEEE Spectrum , January 2011
"Seeing the Light: LED technology moves into the mainstream and delivers improved efficiencies ," Signage Solutions , Nov/Dec 2011
"What it takes to change all the street lights in New York City ," Greenbiz , April 17, 2013 and October 29, 2013
"This Little LED of Mine ," The New York Times , November 2, 2013
"Efficient, useful blue-light LED draws Nobel Prize in physics ," CNET , October 7, 2014
"Benefits and Disadvantages of LED Lighting ," LED Technology , 2012, and Luminanz Ltd , 2011, and Pulse , 2015
"Science advances in matching LED lighting to horticultural needs ," LEDs Magazine, 20 Sept 2016
"LED Streetlights Are Giving Neighborhoods the Blues ," IEEE Spectrum, 22 Sept 2016
"The search for better white light ," C&E News , November 19, 2018
"America's Light Bulb Revolution ," The New York Times , March 8, 2019
"Household lighting consumption driven by bulb choice and bulb count ," U.S. Energy Information Administration , February 25, 2019
"White House to Relax Energy Efficiency Rules for Light Bulbs ," The New York Times , September 4, 2019
"The History of Lighting ," Traditional Building , May 13, 2020
"Old-Fashioned, Inefficient Light Bulbs Live On at the Nation's Dollar Stores ," New York Times , January 23, 2022
"Biden flips the switch on Trump's incandescent light bulb plan ," CNN , April 26, 2022
"LED Headlights ," Hella Tech World , 2017
"LED Basics ," US Department of Energy
"Savings Calculator ," Bulbs.com
(29W) Lab 15: How can you identify different incandescent, atomic, or semiconductor sources of light?
(30F) Quiz 9
(31M) Activity 17: Which elements in the periodic table are metals?
(31M) Lab 16: What is the net ionic equation?
(32W) Activity 18: How can we represent solids?
(32W) (33F) Lab 17: How are structure and properties of solids related?
(33F) Quiz 10
(34M) Activity 19: What controls the properties of elements?
(34M) Activity 20: How can you get a specific color of light from a solid?
(35W) Lab 18: Periodic Properties and LEDs
(35W) Activity 21: Project Design: Is my soil contaminated? Lead in soil
(36F) Quiz 11
(36F) Lab 19: Collect Soil Samples
(37M) Lab 20: Preparation of Lead Samples and Standards
(38W) Lab 21: Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy of Lead Samples & Standards
(39F) NO CLASS THANKSGIVING
(40M) Lab 22: Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy of Lead Samples & Standards
(41W) (42F) Activity 22: Writing a report: Lead in soil
(43M) Quiz 12
This page last modified August 15, 2024
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