CD v. Google

I think that there are actually a few more links when you google “Chem Connnections” than there are on the CD.

To make it easier, I have added the links:

http://chemistry.beloit.edu/

http://mc2.cchem.berkeley.edu/

Your final presentations

You may have seen that Dr. Gower has begun to publicize your final presentations.  There is a facebook event that you should all RSVP to.  You can find it here. I also encourage you to invite faculty from your other classes.  I will be sending a campus-wide invitation next week.

Reminder

We need poster materials.

Final Global Warming Paper – Your assignment

Assignments are below – Unless otherwise indicated your project should include a well-written and well-resourced paper (3-5 pages long). You need a complete bibliography.

Those of you that have the same questions should have very different papers.  Papers are due Dec 2nd.

Matthew – Recommend which sources and sinks should be regulated to decrease greenhouse gas concentrations for carbon dioxide. Note briefly how the regulations will be implemented at the personal, national, and/or global level. Thoroughly justify your answers by including quantitative and qualitative information from all parts of the global warming module and your individual research. Also include chemistry concepts such as IR spectra, gas concentrations, temperature trends, and chemical reactions to provide support for you regulations.

Rebecca – Recommend which sources and sinks should be regulated to decrease greenhouse gas concentrations for methane. Note briefly how the regulations will be implemented at the personal, national, and/or global level. Thoroughly justify your answers by including quantitative and qualitative information from all parts of the global warming module and your individual research. Also include chemistry concepts such as IR spectra, gas concentrations, temperature trends, and chemical reactions to provide support for you regulations.

Kevin – Recommend which sources and sinks should be regulated to decrease greenhouse gas concentrations for nitrous oxide. Note briefly how the regulations will be implemented at the personal, national, and/or global level. Thoroughly justify your answers by including quantitative and qualitative information from all parts of the global warming module and your individual research. Also include chemistry concepts such as IR spectra, gas concentrations, temperature trends, and chemical reactions to provide support for you regulations.

Audrey - Use the information from your classroom activities, this module, and your individual literature research to reach a conclusion on the issue “What should we do about global warming?”. Write a public opinion piece to communicate your opinions to the public. It could be a letter to the editor of your college or local paper, a letter to a public official, a video segment on global warming, or a cartoon for the campus paper. Be creative in the forum you choose, but realize that these need to be informational in order to be persuasive. Your teacher will provide you with clear guidelines and expectations for the evaluation of this project, given the range of presentation possibilities.

Kathryn – You are a member of a consulting firm. Prepare a report advising your country on how best to solve the problem of greenhouse gas emissions. How will you meet your country’s global obligations according to the Kyoto Protocol? What policies could they adopt to effectively cut emissions? What emerging technologies might they be interested in? Present two or three policy options and emerging technologies that could be used to decrease each individual greenhouse gas to the needed levels. Feel free to explain what policies and technologies would not be effective in the country’s society. Include appropriate references.

Noah – The GCSU Student Government Association recently heard a proposition regarding a green fee. The Green Fee would collect an “extra $5 for each student per semester. Money will go to recycling, installing energy meters in each building, and increasing energy efficiency.” Prepare a position paper in favor of the green fee. Specifically address how this $5 fee could effect the CO2 emissions, from the university. Include an estimation of current CO2 contribution from the university’s energy consumption and an estimation of the money that would be collected each year.

Grace - The GCSU Student Government Association recently heard a proposition regarding a green fee. The Green Fee would collect an “extra $5 for each student per semester. Money will go to recycling, installing energy meters in each building, and increasing energy efficiency.” Prepare a position paper in opposition to the green fee. Specifically address how this $5 fee could effect the CO2 emissions, from the university. Include an estimation of current CO2 contribution from the university’s energy consumption and an estimation of the money that would be collected each year. Suggest alternative schemes for reducing the CO2 emissions from campus energy use.

Lindsey, – Use the information from your classroom activities, this module, and your individual literature research to reach a conclusion on the issue “What should we do about global warming?”. Write a public opinion piece to communicate your opinions to the public. It could be a letter to the editor of your college or local paper, a letter to a public official, a video segment on global warming, or a cartoon for the campus paper. Be creative in the forum you choose, but realize that these need to be informational in order to be persuasive. Your teacher will provide you with clear guidelines and expectations for the evaluation of this project, given the range of presentation possibilities.

Rachael – Use the information from your classroom activities, this module, and your individual literature research to reach a conclusion on the issue “What should we do about global warming?”. Write a public opinion piece to communicate your opinions to the public. It could be a letter to the editor of your college or local paper, a letter to a public official, a video segment on global warming, or a cartoon for the campus paper. Be creative in the forum you choose, but realize that these need to be informational in order to be persuasive. Your teacher will provide you with clear guidelines and expectations for the evaluation of this project, given the range of presentation possibilities.

Janet – You are a member of a consulting firm. Prepare a report advising your country on how best to solve the problem of greenhouse gas emissions. How will you meet your country’s global obligations according to the Kyoto Protocol? What policies could they adopt to effectively cut emissions? What emerging technologies might they be interested in? Present two or three policy options and emerging technologies that could be used to decrease each individual greenhouse gas to the needed levels. Feel free to explain what policies and technologies would not be effective in the country’s society. Include appropriate references.

Making the Link Section 6

Kevin and I found that he emits more carbon dioxide in one year by driving than he does by breathing. His car emitted 6.07 X 10^6 g of carbon dioxide in one year, whereas his breath only emits 2.08 X 10^6 g of carbon dioxide in one year. Besides breathing, other activities I do that emit greenhouse gases into the atmosphere would be driving, wasting energy, using air conditioning in excess, and using heat in excess. All of these factors contribute to greenhouse gas emissions.

Making the Link

One reason that the greenhouse gases are rising could be because the sources are able to produce more than the sinks can absorb. Another reason may be that sources are increasing and sinks are decreasing. Deforestation is the loss of a sink for carbon dioxide. Combustion of fossil fuel is the increase of a source. Most of the sources of gases are anthropogenic. Some of these sources are combustion of fossil fuels, forest fires, decomposition of waste in landfills, soil management and coal-mining.

Making the Link

As concentrations of greenhouse gases rise rapidly, it becomes obvious that their emission by the various sources outpace their absorption by sinks.  The sources of carbon dioxide, for instance, greatly outnumber the currently viable sinks.  As humans add more carbon to the sources of the carbon cycle, and deplete the number of trees available to absorb carbon dioxide, the amount that remains in the atmosphere will increase.  And as the population of the world increases, and more countries industrialize, anthropogenic sources will produce increasing amounts of greenhouse gases.  Many of the big sources of greenhouse gases are anthropogenic; most of the excess carbon dioxide is anthropogenic, 60% of methane comes from anthropogenic sources, and a huge amount of the nitrous oxide produced comes from anthropogenic sources.

IR spectra from class today

The reference spectra can be found at this link.

The spectrum of breath is below:

Making the Link

The rise in greenhouse gas concentrations implies that the balance between sources and sinks is unequal. There are not enough sinks for greenhouse gases to balance out the sources, both natural and anthroprogenic. The sinks do not work quickly enough to outnumber the sources and therefore there is an increase in greenhouse gas concentrations. Carbon dioxide has many anthropogenic sources, such as forest fires, cement manufacture, and the combustion of fossil fuels, but so far there are only proposed anthropogenic sinks; there aren’t any anthropogenic sinks for carbon dioxide currently in place. The sources for carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide are mostly anthropogenic. The list of anthropogenic sources goes on and on from fossil fuel combustion, to forest fires to waste management to fertilizers and soil cultivation, but the list of natural sources is short and has a definite stopping point. Increased industry also means that the list of anthropogenic sources will continue to increase.