Teaching First Year Chemistry Dr. Kim Bolton, School of Environmental Sciences

 Soil and Water Chemist  My First Year Experience  Environmental Chemistry I and II  Equivalent to standard two term 1 st year chemistry course  Environmental chemistry examples (acid rain, ozone depletion, photochemical smog, etc.)  Lectures/labs  Course no longer exists My Background

 My First Year Experience  Introductory Chemistry  Equivalent to grade 12 chemistry  Distance education format  No labs  Chemistry Today  Chemistry for non-science students (Hotel and Food Administration)  No labs My Background

 Text: Introduction to Environmental Chemistry, Nigel Bunce  Objectives  Introduction to chemical principles which govern chemical reactions in the environment  Introduction to some specific problems in environmental chemistry Environmental Chemistry I and II Part IPart II StoichiometryAcids and Bases Energetics in Chemical Reactions: Enthalpy Solubility Equilibria Gases and the AtmosphereAcid Rain KineticsEnergetics in Chemical Reactions: Free Energy Gaseous EquilibriaStratospheric Ozone Depletion WaterElectrochemistry Metals and Mining

 Ways to engage students  Use of quantitative environmental examples:  Stoichiometry; eg) Calculate the maximum yield of sulphuric acid produced from 125 tonnes of pyrite.  Thermochemistry; eg) Calculate the mass of methane that must be burned to heat a typical house in S. Ontario on a winter day when the total heat requirement is 6.7 x 10 5 kJ  Photochemistry; eg) The C-Cl bond has bond dissociation energy 330 kJ mol -1, while CFCl 3 absorbs radiation having λ < 220 nm. Will CFCl 3 undergo bond cleavage in the lower atmosphere? Environmental Chemistry I and II

 Ways to engage students  Use of quantitative environmental examples:  Kinetics; eg) The degradation of the pesticide fenvalerate in the envionment is found to be first order with k = 3.9 x s -1. An accidental discharge of 100 kg of fenvalerate into a holding pond results in a fenvalerate concentration of 1.3 x mol L -1. Calculate the concentration left after one month. How long before the fenvalerate concentration in the pond reaches 1 μM?  Free Energy; eg) Calculate the equilibrium constant for 3/2 O 2(g) ↔ O 3(g) and estimate O 3 content in stratosphere. (then compare to actual content). Environmental Chemistry I and II

 Ways to engage students  Specific Environmental Topics:  Greenhouse Gases and Climate Change  Photochemical Smog and Ground Level Ozone  Water Hardness and Water Softening  Laboratory; water hardness by titration with standard EDTA  Biological Oxygen Demand (sewage and industrial waste water)  Phosphate removal from sewage  Acid Mine Drainage  “Stories”  Solubility; eg) Why do walls of the Welland Canal crumble? (CaSO 4 H 2 O solubility)  Metal toxicity; Copper complexation story Environmental Chemistry I and II

 Text: Chemistry in Focus, Nivaldo Tro (Brooks/Cole)  First half of course addresses general chemistry principles:  Atoms and Elements  Compounds and Chemical Reactions (a little stoichiometry)  Chemical Bonding (Lewis structures)  Organic Chemistry  Acids and Bases  Second half examine some applications:  Household Chemicals  Biochemistry and Pharmaceuticals  Chemistry of Food  Chemistry of the Environment Chemistry Today

 Way to engage students  Group Project - groups assigned "mystery ingredient list“  Required to produce report  should be informative and should be written for the general public  for a popular science or health magazine. Chemistry Today

 Both Distance Education Courses  Way to engage students  OWL Homework (Cengage) Introductory Chemistry and Chemistry Today

 Student preparation quite variable  Strengths  Confidence  Willingness to ask for help  Weaknesses  Math!! (basic algebra; dimensional analysis)  Problem solving skills  Fear (and loathing) of chemistry  General 1 st year issues  Maturity  Time management 1 st year students