COURSE SYLLABUS

INSTRUCTOR: Dr. Teresa J. Bandosz

OFFICE: J-1316; TELEPHONE: (212) 650-6017;

E-MAIL: tbandosz@scisun.sci.ccny.cuny.edu

CONSULTING HOURS: Tuesday and Thursday: 11 - 12 p.m., or by appointment.

SCHEDULED CLASS TIME: 4 hours / 2 credit hours: Tuesday 5:00- 8:40 PM

WEBSITE: http://www.sci.ccny.cuny.edu/~tbandosz

BLACKBOARD SITE: http://online.cuny.edu:8001

PREREQUISITES: Environmental Chemistry, CHEM 406

GENERAL OBJECTIVE: Environmental Chemistry is intended to broaden the student’s understanding of chemical processes taking place in our environment. The relationship between atmospheric, soil, and water chemistry will be emphasized. This course draws upon general, analytical, and organic chemistry experience.

LABORATORY EXPERIMENTS

Nitric Dioxide in Urban Air: Its Origin, Concentration, and Fate (one week)

Lead in Soil (two weeks)

PCBs in Hudson River Sediments (two weeks)

Lead in Shells (one week)

Sulfur in Coal (one week)

Pesticides in Fruits and Vegetables (two weeks)

Sources of Odor from the Hudson River: Determining Hydrogen Sulfide Concentration (one week)

Nitrates in Soils (one week)

The Hudson River Water: Basic Characteristics of Natural Water (one week)

Determination of Henry's Law Constants for Volatile Organic Chemicals

Sorption of Anilines, Phenols, and Carboxylic Acids onto Activated Carbon by HPLC

Home Assignments: Before each lab, carefully read the experiment descriptions and refer to the chapters in the textbook (Manahan, Environmental Chemistry) that deals with the particular experimental objectives.

Quizzes: Before each class begins, a 15-minute quiz will be administered. Students will be asked to find the answer for a question, dealing with the experiment which they are about to do. Quiz grades will make-up 10 percent of the total laboratory grade.

Grading:

	Quizzes: 10%
	Class Performance: 10%
	Lab Report Presentation: 10%
	Results and Calculations: 50%
	Discussions: 20%

To arrange a make-up of a lab, you must first provide an absence note (doctor, etc.)

Attendance: Students are required to come to the lab on time, as well as, start their laboratory experiments on time. There will be a lateness penalty, 10 points out of 100, for arriving later than 5:15 p.m. Moreover, latecomers will not get their quiz points (10%). For all missed quizzes, the grade will be zero.

Performance:

	Always prepare for the lab, so that the experiment can be done more efficiently.
	Handle the experiment and chemicals with care. *Attention:* safety glasses must be worn while working with the chemicals- unprepared students will not be allowed to work.
	Keep the workplace clean.
	Record the measurements, calculations, and results in a bound book.
	Before leaving the lab, the instructor should see and sign all results. Students may have to show the original results to the instructor later, so do not lose the notebook. At that time, ask any questions concerning how to perform the calculations, how to write the lab report, etc.

Report: The lab report should be typed or legibly hand written on white (8.5 x 11 format) paper, and handed in to the instructor on the week following the completion of the experiment. Late reports will not be accepted.

The report should include:

	Theory: This is a brief description of the objective, background information, and scientific principles being examined in the experiment. Do not write too much. The theory section should not be more than one page long.
	Experimental Procedure
	Data Analysis: This includes detailed calculations, using significant figures and correct units. If there are any graphs, they should also be included in this section. The graph should be done using computer programs, such as Microsoft Excel, Graphical Analysis, etc. If a computer program is not available, graphs can be done on accurate graph paper. In both cases, linear regression analysis is to be used to analyze data, if linear dependence is expected.
	Discussion: Discuss the results and analyze sources or errors that might have occurred during the experiment. Explain how these errors could have been avoided.
	Answer any questions that might be included in the experiment.

Suggested Techniques:

	Before filling a pipette or burette, always rinse it with small portions of solution.
	In reading meters and burettes, be careful to avoid parallax.
	Always read the burette to the second decimal place.
	Never weigh a hot or cold sample.
	Never put a pipette into a bottle of stock reagents. It can contaminate the solution and ruin every determination made with it. Instead, pour some of the solutions into a dry beaker and draw from the beaker. Discard the residue.
	Use graduated cylinders for measuring approximate volumes.

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	Website Designed by: Leah D. Pride
	Summer 2001, NASA/PAIR Undergraduate Laboratory Assistant

Last Modified: August 10, 2001