Introduction to Environmental Chemistry 15+hours of lectures

Explore how human activities introduce exotic chemicals like pesticides DDT and CFCs, and how they alter carbon and sulfur cycles with climate and ozone impacts.

Outline the structure and chemistry of organic molecules, highlighting carbon-hydrogen backbones, covalent bonds, hydrocarbons and aromatic rings, functional groups, and carbohydrate examples such as glucose and sucrose.

Explore how the sun's shortwave radiation drives Earth's energy balance and how atmospheric absorption shapes the planetary albedo, longwave radiation, and the equilibrium surface temperature.

Explore the global halogen cycle, focusing on methyl chloroform, carbon tetrachloride, halons, and methane; cover anthropogenic and natural sources, atmospheric lifetimes, ocean uptake, and Montreal Protocol implications.

Explore primary pollutants with a focus on methane (CH4), its simple structure, atmospheric impact, and rising global emissions from wetlands, rice paddies, ruminants, and fossil fuel sources.

Explore secondary PM10 aerosols formed from sulfate production via oxidation of sulfur dioxide, including sulfuric acid and ammonium sulfate, and their impacts on visibility and environmental acidification.

Explore tropospheric oxidation chemistry and oxidizing capacity, driven by hydroxyl radicals from ozone and water vapor, and involving hydrogen peroxide, methane, and nitrogen oxides.

Explore how urban atmospheres form photochemical smog and tropospheric ozone from non methane hydrocarbons and nitrogen oxides under sunlight, highlighting hydroxyl radicals and nitrous acid chemistry.

Explore nighttime oxidation chemistry in the troposphere, focusing on the nitrate radical (NO3) formed from NO2 and ozone, its role in forming nitric acid and oxidizing nocturnal hydrocarbons.

Explore ozone formation from ultraviolet light, its protective role in the stratosphere, and how CFCs and nitrous oxide deplete it through atmospheric transport.

Explore the stratosphere's structure and sharp gradient patterns in trace gases and aerosols. Examine mixing barriers, including the polar vortex and subtropical/tropical pipes, and the role of Rossby-wave filaments.

Explore gas-phase chemistry of the stratosphere, focusing on ozone production and loss via the Chapman cycle, the oxygen atom and molecule system, and the concept of oxygen families.

Explore the size distribution of atmospheric aerosols, including number size distribution, volume concentration, and how composition and geographic origin shape source categories.

Explore natural aerosol sources, including sea salt and desert dust, and distinguish primary from secondary and natural versus anthropogenic emissions. Examine how wind and size distribution affect their atmospheric lifetime.

Explain how dry aerosols interact with gaseous species in environmental chemistry, including sea salt aerosol reactions with nitric acid and surface nitrate formation, plus nitrogen dioxide reduction on particle surfaces.

Explore how aerosols act as cloud condensation nuclei to alter cloud properties, albedo, and precipitation, examining natural and anthropogenic sources and marine versus continental effects.

Examine how physical, chemical, and biological weathering sculpt rocks at the earth's surface, increasing surface area and driving mineral dissolution through water, oxygen, acids, and microbial activity.

Examine how water dissolves silicate minerals, releasing ions and forming electrolyte solutions. Explore oxidation of iron-bearing minerals and organic matter that produce acids and hydrated iron oxides.

examine how soil horizons form and are classified using USDA and FAO systems, and how leaching, clay dynamics, and reduction and oxidation conditions shape soil structure.