Chemistry Languages

Definition and examples

How much is the climate changing?

National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC, PSC, and NASA Figures)
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC Figures)
Global Climate Change Impacts in the U. S. (USGCRP Figures)

In the Arctic, the Old Ice Is Disappearing (pdf, New York Times, May 14, 2018)
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (Video, IPCC, 2013)
Are warmer Arctic temperatures behind extreme winter weather? (Video, CBS News, February 2014)
Bill McKibben (Audio, APM, 2009)

How much does air weigh?
How are gas volume and pressure related?
How are gas volume and temperature related?

Laboratory Glassware
Keeping your lab notes (pdf)
Using a tire gauge (prelab Movie)
Lab data and prelab (Movies)
Properties of Gases (Figures)
Pressure and number of particles (Animation)
Pressure and volume (Animation)
Gas Properties (link to PhET simulation).
Volume and Pressure (link to Concord Consortium simulation)
Temperature and Volume (link to Concord Consortium simulation)
Temperature and Pressure (link to Concord Consortium simulation)
Properties of Gases (ACS)

How are the atoms connected within atmospheric gas molecules ?
What are the shapes of atmospheric gas molecules?

Lewis Dot and VSEPR (Figures)
Gas Molecules Interactive Models (jsmol)
Valence Shell Electron Pair Repulsion (VSEPR) Interactive Models (jsmol)
Valence Shell Electron Pair Repulsion (VSEPR) Molecule Shapes (link to html5 PhET simulation).
     Choose model option then drag atoms or lone pairs to the center atom and see the lowest energy shape.
Lewis Dot and Formal Charge (Tutorials)

Which gases absorb infrared waves?

Infrared Spectra of Gases in Balloons (Figures)
Molecular Bond Vibrations (Animations)
Resonance Frequency and Energy Coupling (Classic movie)
How does an infrared spectrum of CO₂ change with concentration? atm or mm Hg (Movie)
Carbon dioxide absorbs infrared radiation (Video)
Do CO₂, N₂O, CH₄, CF₃CH₂F and H₂O absorb the same frequency of infrared radiation? (Movie)
Greenhouse Gases and Electronegativity (Figures)
VSEPR, Electronegativity, and Polar Molecules (Tutorials)

What are the sources and sinks of greenhouse gases?
What do atmospheric concentrations tell us?

Gas Concentrations, Global Warming Potential, and Atmospheric Lifetime (table, jsmol, Movies)
Oxygen Concentrations (Scripps)
Sources and Sinks (Figures)
What happens when you breathe into water? (Movies)
Methane Supercharges Climate Change, Living on Earth, September 2022 (Audio)
Methane,The Other Important Greenhouse Gas, C&E News, October 25, 2021 (pdf)

How have CO₂ emissions changed with time and location? (Movie, global)
How have CO₂ emissions changed with time and location? (Movie, local)
Cows and methane (Video)
Permafrost and methane (Video)
Forest health in a changing world (Video)
No laughing matter: nitrous oxide - another climate enemy (Video)
Are we stuck with cement? (link to The Outline, June 2018)
Greenhouse gases (link to NOAA)

How do we balance the source and sink equations?

Moles and Balancing Equations (Figures)
Chemical Calculations (reference)

Which recipe gives the most precipitate?

Lab Data (Movies)
Limiting Reactant Laboratory.xlsm (Instructor template)

What are your personal contributions to CO₂ emissions?

Unit Conversions (examples for writing calculations in one line)

How much carbon dioxide do you exhale in a year?

A mole of carbon dioxide (Movie)

How much do your daily activities contribute to rising greenhouse gas concentrations?

Climate Science Toolkit (link to American Chemical Society)

How should we keep cool?

Background Readings (pdf)
A. "Earth-Friendly Cool Cars in 2011," C&E News, September 4, 2006
B. "Keeping His Cool," C&E News, September 15, 2008
C. "GM First to Market Greenhouse Gas-Friendly Air Conditioning Refrigerant in U.S,." Press Release, July 2, 2010
D. "Greenlight For New Automotive Refrigerant," C&E News, March 7, 2011
E. "Honeywell, Dupont Face European Probe,"C&E News, January 2, 2012
F. "As Coolant Is Phased Out, Smugglers Reap Large Profits," New York Times, September 7, 2012
G. "UN hails 25-year ozone treaty for preventing disaster," Agence France-Presse, September 14, 2012
H. "Effort to Curb Coolant Falters, Sometimes at Home," New York Times, November 22, 2012
I. "US and China to Cooperate on Reducing Potent Greenhouse Gases," C&E News, June 10, 2013
J. "EPA Approves New Climate-Friendly Refrigerants/Rule," EPA Newsroom, March 2, 2015
K. "Protection of Stratospheric Ozone: Listing of Substitutes for Refrigeration and Air Conditioning and Revision of the Venting Prohibition for Certain Refrigerant Substitutes," Federal Register, April 10, 2015

Additional Links to Material
"Global Warming Potentials and Ozone Depletion Potentials of Refrigerants," US EPA, 2014
"Climate friendly mobile air conditioning for buses," Umweltbundesamt, 2015
"Bans on F gas in new equipment," UK Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs, 2014
"Cool Technologies: Working Without HFCs," Greenpeace, 2012 (See sections B.1, C.1.a, D, D.9, E)
"Twenty Questions and Answers About the Ozone Layer," World Meteorological Organization Global Ozone Research and Monitoring Project, 2014
"Nations agree on phase-out of super greenhouse gases," PhysOrg, October, 2016
"Fluorinated greenhouse gases," European Commission

Refrigerants (Figures)

Every Two Weeks (NASA TOMS Movie, recommended introduction)
This weeks images (link to NASA)
NASA's Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (Daily image movies, 1978-present)
Gas Concentrations, Ozone Depletion Potential, and Atmospheric Lifetime (table, jsmol, Movies)
Mario Molina (Audio, Living on Earth, October 2020)

Political Responses

HR 910: A bill to amend the Clean Air Act to prohibit regulation of greenhouse gases was passed by the House (April 7, 2011), but died in 2013 when the legislative session ended without action by the Senate.

Paris Climate Change Agreement aims to keep global warming below 2°C.
China has pledged to reduce its carbon dioxide emissions per unit of GDP by 60-65% for 2030 compared with 2005 levels. (link to BBC, June 2015)
EU target of an at least 55% net reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030.
Action Plans by country

Obama on Climate Change: The Trends Are 'Terrifying', Sept. 8, 2016, New York Times (Video)
States Will Lead on Climate Change in the Trump Era, Dec. 26, 2016, New York Times (pdf)
Obama Farewell Address, Jan. 10, 2017, youtube (Video)
Trump Announces Withdrawal from Paris Climate Accord, June 1, 2017, Business Insider (Video)
Major Climate Change Rules the Trump Administration Is Reversing, Aug. 29, 2019, New York Times (pdf)
     Regulations called burdensome to the fossil fuel industry.
U.N. Climate Summit and Carbon Report Card, Sept. 23, 2019, NPR Morning Edition (Audio)
16-year-old Greta Thunberg addressing the U. N. Climate Summit, New York, Sept. 23, 2019, youtube (Video)
Biden, Republicans and the Climate (Audio, Living on Earth, November 2020)
The Climate Pledge: Paris... 10 years early and Business signatories (link to Amazon)
Supreme Court curbs EPA's ability to fight climate change, CNN, June 2022

What is the empirical formula of my cool blue copper compound?

Measuring cup squeeze dispenser (Movie)
Suction Filtration (Movie)
Titrations (Figures)
Filling a buret (Movie)
Beer's Law (Figures)
Beer's Law Simulation (html5 PhET simulation).
     Choose option Beer's Law (not Concentration) then turn on light source. Adjust concentration or try variable wavelength.

How do chemists represent the structure of molecules?

Chemical Formulas (pdf)
What molecule is C₅H₁₂? (jsmol)
What molecule is C₅H₁₂O? (jsmol)
How do Chemists Represent the Structures of Organic Molecules? (jsmol)

What is Gasoline?
Virtual field trip to a gas station near Los Angeles (Movie starring Brock Spencer)
Trip to a gas station (Zoolander Movie)
Gasoline (Figures)
Lessons from the warning signs at gas stations (Chicago Tribune) or pdf copy

How much heat is released upon fuel combustion?
Fuel Calorimetry

Heat (Figures)
Tinder Chips (Movie), May 2014
Heat Capacity and Water (link to USGS)
Specific Heat (link to Concord Consortium simulation)
Combustion of ethanol vapor (Movie)

Why do we make so much CO₂?

Bond Energies (Animation)
Bond Energies (Figures)

What are some alternative fuels we could use?

Alternative Fuels and Prices (data)
Department of Energy Alternative Fuels page (link to afdc)
FAME and Biodiesel (Figures)
What are biofuels? (Movie), ExxonMobil, May 2016
Turning Algae into Energy (Movie), Los Alamos NationalLab , May 2013
Algae for Fuel (Movie), NETNebraska, July 2011
Cellulosic Ethanol (Denmark) (Movie), January 2012

What does an internal combustion engine produce besides CO₂ and H₂O?

Deconstructed: Catalytic Converter (Video)
Catalytic Converter Demonstration (Movies)
"Gasoline and Air Quality" (pdf) from the Chevron Motor Gasolines Technical Review (2009)
Volkswagen's Big Diesel Cheat (Audio and figures, 2015)

Preparation of a Hydrogen Fuel Cell

Fuel Cells (Figures)
Multimeter (Figures)
Video Procedure (Movies)

How Fuel Cells Work (Movie)
Wind to Hydrogen (Movie)
Artificial Leaf (Movie)
Energy Density (Table)
Toyota Hydrogen Fuel Cell Vehicle (link)

What functional groups are in foods?

Functional Groups (Figures)
Food (Figures)

Which household chemicals react the same way?

Prelab (Movies)
Lab Data (Movies). You will need your data sheet.

Can "like-attracts-like" be used to rank polarity?

Polar Molecule Review (Figures)
Water is Polar (Movie)
Polar/Nonpolar Disk Game (Movie)
Hydrophobic Materials (Figures)
Superhydrophobic Materials (Movies)

How are functional groups, molecular sizes, and boiling points related?

Intermolecular Forces (Figures)
Intermolecular Attractions and States of Matter (link to Concord Consortium simulation)
States of Matter (link to PhET simulation)
Boiling Point Data (Movie)

What is Hydraulic Fracturing?

Hydraulic Fracturing (Figures)
Ethane and the Plastics Boom, NPR Morning Edition, November 2019 (Audio)
Fracking boom tied to methane spike in Earth's atmosphere, National Geographic, August 2019 (pdf)

What is the difference between a fat and an oil?

Fats and Oils (Figures)
Structures of Fats (jsmol)
Melting Point Data (Movie)
How the Russians Saved America's Sunflower (NPR Audio, 2012)

How does vegetable oil change when hydrogenated?

Hydrogenation (Figures)
Lab Data (Movies)

Food versus Fuel Summary

What will fuel transport systems of the future? (pdf) Materials Today, November 2011
Renewable Fuels (Figures)
Smooth Running with Soybeans (pdf) Chemical & Engineering News, October 28, 2013
Robotic Kelp Farms Promise an Ocean Full of Carbon-Neutral, Low-Cost Energy (pdf) or IEEE Spectrum, 15 Mar 2017.
Climate Dangers of Palm Oil (LOE Audio), November 2018

Boeing 747 transatlantic biofuel flight (Movie), June 2011
Cellulosic Ethanol (Denmark) (Movie), January 2012
What are biofuels? (Movie), ExxonMobil, May 2016
Turning Algae into Energy (Movie), Los Alamos NationalLab , May 2013
Algae for Fuel (Movie), NETNebraska, July 2011
Global Warming Threatens Nutrition (Audio), Living on Earth, October 2017

New plant-focused diet would ‘transform’ planet’s future, say scientists, link to The Guardian, January 2019
Avoiding meat and dairy is ‘single biggest way’ to reduce your impact on Earth – study, link to The Guardian, May 2018
Humans just 0.01% of all life but have destroyed 83% of wild mammals, link to The Guardian, May 2018
Giving up beef will reduce carbon footprint more than cars, says expert, link to The Guardian, July 2014

Synthesis and Analysis: Is my Aspirin Pure?

Aspirin (Figures)
How do vibrations change with mass and force constant? (Demonstrations)
NMR Spectra of Reference Compounds (pdf)
Infrared Spectra of Reference Compounds (pdf)
Loading infrared samples (Movie)
Loading NMR samples (Movie)
Color test for salicylate (Movie)
Review
   Measuring cup squeeze dispenser (Movie)
   Suction Filtration (Movie)
   Titrations (Figures)

Is My Aspirin Stable?

Aspirin stability (Figures)
Aspirin storage (link to MedlinePlus)
Serial Dilution and Beer's Law (Figures)

Why have metals been used through the ages? (Logan Museum)

Properties of Metals (Movies)

How well do different materials conduct heat?

Lab Data (Movies)

What are the three ways we make light? How should we make light?

1. "A brilliant new approach," The Economist, March 19, 2009
2. "Green Promise Seen in Switch to LED Lighting," The New York Times, May 30, 2009
3. "Europe's Ban on Old-Style Bulbs Begins," The New York Times, September 1, 2009
4. "Tiny semiconductor crystals, called quantum dots, enable new forms of energy-efficient lighting," The Economist, March 4, 2010
5. "LED Lighting: Blue + Yellow = White" and "The Light bulb that really is a better idea," IEEE Spectrum, January 2011
6. "Seeing the Light: LED technology moves into the mainstream and delivers improved efficiencies," Signage Solutions, Nov/Dec 2011
7. "What it takes to change all the street lights in New York City," Greenbiz, April 17, 2013 and October 29, 2013
8. "This Little LED of Mine," The New York Times, November 2, 2013
9. "Efficient, useful blue-light LED draws Nobel Prize in physics," CNET, October 7, 2014
10. "Benefits and Disadvantages of LED Lighting," LED Technology, 2012, and Luminanz Ltd, 2011, and Pulse, 2015
11. "Science advances in matching LED lighting to horticultural needs ," LEDs Magazine, 20 Sept 2016
12. "LED Streetlights Are Giving Neighborhoods the Blues," IEEE Spectrum, 22 Sept 2016
13. "The search for better white light," C&E News, November 19, 2018
14. "America's Light Bulb Revolution," The New York Times, March 8, 2019
15. "Household lighting consumption driven by bulb choice and bulb count," U.S. Energy Information Administration, February 25, 2019
16. "White House to Relax Energy Efficiency Rules for Light Bulbs," The New York Times, September 4, 2019
17. "The History of Lighting," Traditional Building, May 13, 2020
18. "Biden flips the switch on Trump's incandescent light bulb plan," CNN, April 26, 2022
19. "LED Basics," US Department of Energy

Light (Figures)
Light from Solids (Movies)
Chemical Light (Movies)
Glowsticks, C&E News, October 25, 2021 (pdf)

Blackbody Radiation (Movies)
Blackbody Simulator (PhET html5 simulation)
The Incandescent Bulb (Movies)
Why does a light bulb burn out? (pdf), INVSEE, Arizona State University (Movie)
An incandescent light bulb has been burning for 100 years: Mythbusters Visit Livermore (Video) 2006
Discovery/Science Channel How It's Made: The Incandescent Bulb (Video)
The origin of quantum mechanics: blackbody radiation and the light bulb (Video)

Color from Electronic Transitions (Movies)
Absorption and Emission Spectra of the Elements (Movies)

LED Quantum Dots (Video)
Benefits of LED Lighting (Video)
LED Application Notes (pdf)
Transportation Lights (Movies)

Which elements in the periodic table are metals?

Electrical Conductivity of the Elements (Movies)

How can you identify different sources of light?

Three Types of Lighting (Movies)
Lab Data (Movies). You will need your data sheet.

What is the net ionic equation?

Ions (Figures)
Lab Data (Movies). You will need your data sheet.

How can we represent solids?

Bonding types (Table)
Covalent, Ionic, Metallic (Figures)
Unit Cells (Figures)

How are structure and properties of solids related?

Solid State Model Kit (Movies)
Interactive Unit Cells (jsmol)
Problem 5 (jsmol)
Structure & Properties (Movies)

What controls the properties of elements?

Periodic properties (Figures)

How can you get a specific color of light from a solid?

LEDs and periodic properties (Figures and Movies)
Multimeters (Figures)
Lab Data (Movies). You will need your data sheet.

The Man Who Lit Up the World (Video) 2010
LED Quantum Dots (Video) 3/3/2010
Miami Tower Revitalized (Video) 12/11/2012
London Tower Bridge Diamond Jubilee (Video) 6/4/2012
New York Empire State Building's colorful new look (Video) 1/1/2013
San Francisco Bay Bridge Lights (Video) 3/5/2013
Confederation of Danish Industry, Copenhagen (Video) 10/3/2013
Banco de Credito del Peru (BCP) building in Lima (Video) 7/15/2014
LED Filament Bulbs (Video) 1/26/2015
Empire State Building Light Show with music by the Grateful Dead (Video) 7/4/2015
Ketra Natural Light (Video) 2017

How do we know how atoms are arranged in solids?

Discovery Slide (Figure)
Diffraction (Figures)

Chocolate, link to Eric's Apple (2013)
Exploring the polymorphic structures in Milk Chocolate, Dark Chocolate and Cocoa Butter, link to Imperial College (2014)
Advances in Lipids Crystallization Technology or Intechopen (2015)
Structures of Fats (jsmol)

Synthesis and Characterization of CH₃NH₃Pb(I_1-xBr_x)₃ Solid Solution Perovskite Semiconductors

Preparation and Diffraction (Figures)
Video Procedure (Movies)

Lighting Summary

See all the readings from How Should We Make Light. Earlier articles do a better job explaining but remember to watch dates for the readings, especially when considering prices.
"A brilliant new approach," The Economist, March 19, 2009 (pdf)
"The Dawn of Miniature Green Lasers," April, 2009 (pdf)
"LED inventor bets on lasers to replace LEDs," February 24, 2016 (pdf)

Sheep Art (Video) 3/16/2009
It is time (Video) 4/13/2013

Is my soil contaminated? Lead in soil

The background readings are in chronological order. Checking only the first few will give an out of date picture but the older ones do provide context.
Background Readings

Search Wisconsin Historical Society records and Wisconsin Assessor Records (We are in Rock County. Type address into the search box).
National Lead Company and Ethyl Corporation Advertisements, 1910-1950

Example data (Figures)

Environmental & Climate Justice

What is Environmental Justice? 2017 (Video)
Environmental and Climate Justice, link to NAACP
The rise of environmental justice, C&E News, August 24, 2020 (pdf)
Diversity, Inclusion & Respect, link to American Chemical Society
Climate Change: Global Inequalities and Poverty, 2017 (pdf)
Race and Climate Change, 2017 (pdf)
Climate Change in Illinois, WNIJ, October 15, 2020 (audio)
Ban Ki-moon, Energy for all, June 2012 (audio)
Mario Molina, Nobel Prize Inspiration Initiative, April 2018 (hour video) youtube
The Climate Crisis - Health and Care Delivery, link to New England Journal of Medicine

Putting it all together

HDI and kWh (Figure)
United Nations Climate Report, CBS News, November 2019 (Video)
How much time is left? UN Emissions Gap Report, November 2019 (Video)
India's Renewable Energy Revolution, August 2018 (Audio)
Bill McKibben, September 2013 (Audio)
Stabilization Wedges (Figure)

Periodic Table Song (Video)
Lab Rules (Video)
Chemists Know (Video)