Chem 253 – Environmental Chemistry

Spring 2015

Instructor:  Roy Dixon (weeks 1 through 5 and 11 through 15)

Office:  Sequoia Room 446C (office in the rear right corner)

Phone:  278 – 6893E

Email:  rdixon@csus.edu

Office Hours:  Mon 12:00-1:00, Tues. 1:00-2:00, Fri. 10:00-11:00

Instructor website:  http://www.csus.edu/indiv/d/dixonr/index.htm (this is Roy's main website; the class website can be accessed from there)

Instructor:  Justin Miller-Schulze (weeks 6 through 10)

Office:  Sequoia Room 426C (office in the rear left corner)

Phone:  278 – 7409

Email:  j.miller-schulze@csus.edu

Office Hours:  Tuesdays, 10-1130, Thursdays, 115-245

Instructor/Course website:  Blackboard site (TBA)

Lecture Meeting Time:  Wednesday 5:30 – 8:00 pm

Lecture Location:  Sequoia 456

Exams:  Mar. 4 (first hour), April 15 (first hour), and December 16 (5:15 – 7:15pm).

Textbook:  Environmental Chemistry, Fifth Edition, by Colin Baird and Michael Cann (required)

Prerequisites:  A C- or better in Chem 1A and 1B, one semester of organic chemistry, calculus, and either a semester of physical chemistry or quantitative analysis.

Overview:  This course deals with the environmental chemistry of the Earth’s air, water, and soil.  The natural chemistry of these systems will be discussed as well as human introduced disruptions and means of minimizing future disruptions.  Examples of topics that will be discussed are:  the ozone layer and the ozone hole, photochemical smog, climate change, acid rain, water chemistry, organic and inorganic water contaminants, persistent organic pollutants, chemicals of emerging concern, fossil and alternative fuels, green chemistry, toxicology, and soil chemistry and contamination.

Tentative Lecture Schedule:

Jan. 28 – Introduction and Stratospheric Chemistry (B&C – 1.1 to 1.10)

            topics: Intro to class, biogeochemical cycles, atmospheric chemistry overview, stratospheric chemistry

Feb. 4 – Stratospheric Chemistry (B&C – 1.11 to 1.14 and 2.1 to 2.13)

            topics: Ozone destruction and the ozone hole

Feb. 11 – Gas Phase Tropospheric Chemistry (B&C – 3.1 to 3.13)

            topics: reactions and smog production

Feb. 18 – Sulfur in the Atmosphere and Particulate Matter (B&C – 3.18 to 3.28)

            topics: sulfur sources, sulfate formation, and particulate matter

Feb. 25 – Effects of Anthropogenic Pollution in the Atmosphere (B&C – Ch. 4)

            topics: haze, acid rain, and removal of particulate matter

Mar. 4 – Exam 1 (on topics of weeks 1 to 5),

Introduction to Water (B&C 10.1-10.18, 11.15-11.16, Other Readings TBA)

            topics: types of water systems, physics of water movement, oxygen dissolution and        demand, organic material, pE, pH, and carbonate

Mar. 11 –  Metals and Inorganic Water Pollution Constituents (B&C 10.18-10.23,11.17-11.20,11.28-11.30, All of Chapter 12)

            topics: nutrients/eutrophication, other ionic constituents, heavy metals

Mar. 18 – Pesticides/Persistent Organic Pollutants (B&C Chapters 13, 14, 15.1-15.6, Other Readings TBA)

            topics: pesticides/herbicides, POPs and legacy pollutants, bioaccumulation and bioconcentration

Mar. 25 – Spring Break (no class)

April 1 – Chemicals of Emerging Concern and Wastewater Treatment (B&C 11.1-11.15, 15.7-15.17 Other Readings TBA)

            topics: pharmaceuticals, endocrine disruptors, wastewater treatment plants

April 8 – Bacterial Pollution and Antibiotic Resistance, Nanomaterials (B&C 11.3-11.4 Other Readings TBA)

            topics: e. coli. and fecal colliform, antibiotic resistance, nanomaterials

April 15 – Exam 2 (on topics of weeks 6 to 10) The Greenhouse Effect (B&C – Chapter 5)

            topics: radiation balance, greenhouse gases, effects of aerosols

April 22 – Fuels and Energy (B&C 6.1 to 6.7 and selected sections of Ch. 7)

            topics: energy use, fossil fuels, bio- and synthetic fuels

April 29 – Green Chemistry – Guest Lecturer (B&C Introduction, TBA)

            topics: TBA

May 6 – Toxicology (Casarett & Duoll’s Toxicology)

            topics: exposure, dose/response, fate of toxic compounds in body, types of effects

May 13 –  Soils and Sediments (B&C Ch. 16)

            topics: wastes, soil chemistry, sediments, soil pollution

May 20  – Exam 3 (5:15 – 7:15pm – scheduled at official final exam time)

Grading:  Your final grade will be based on 3 one hour exams (28% each), homework (8%), and in-class group assignments (8%).  Exams will cover material covered up until the time of the exam.  Some exam questions may require knowledge of material covered on previous exams. Homework will consist of text (or possibly instructor developed) questions.  Only certain assigned questions will be graded.  The in-class group assignments will be to work on problems assigned during part of the lecture time to provide practice for test questions.  The lowest in-class group assignment will be dropped.  The instructors will select the group members.

Assignment of grades:  The following grading scheme (excluding +’s and –‘s) can be considered "typical":
A 90 – 100%
B 80 – 89%
C 70 – 79%
D 60 – 69%