Chemistry 388: Environmental Chemistry and Engineering

Credits 4
Credit Type
Semester Offered
Not Offered 2024-2025
Lab Fee
Maximum $20.

This course will examine (1) the basic chemistry associated with pollutant fate and transport modeling in environmental media, especially acid-base, oxidation/reduction, solubility, speciation, and sorption reactions, (2) basic physical concepts for modeling the fate and transport of pollutants in environmental media, and (3) pollutant risk assessment based on humans as receptors. Additional topics might include major U.S. environmental laws, global environmental issues (e.g., global warming and stratospheric ozone depletion), and selected scientific articles. The laboratory portion will concentrate on pollutant monitoring and chemical aspects of pollutants, measuring dispersion and pollutant transport in small-scale systems, and data analysis. Three lectures, one three- to four-hour laboratory per week, and one mandatory overnight field monitoring trip to the Johnston Wilderness Campus at the end of the semester.

Distribution Area
Students entering Fall 2024 or later: Scientific Inquiry (SI)
Students entering Fall 2024 or later: Quantitative Analysis (QA)
Students entering Fall 2024 or later: Studying the Past (STP)
Prerequisites

Chemistry 126 or 140; and a good working knowledge of basic algebra (including rearrangement of complicated equations and use of exponential functions).

Corequisites

Includes a required corequisite lab, Chemistry 388L.