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Contemplanda

Science

Chemistry in the Earth System

In development

A full-year chemistry course in the California three-course model, from the energy in food and fuels to Earth's interior, the chemistry of climate, and the changing ocean.

8 units · 72 lessons · 528 practice items · 119 videos

Chemistry in the Earth System starts with things students can measure: the energy released when food and fuels burn, and the heat that flows through rock, water, and air. The first units build a particle model of matter and use it to explain conduction, convection, and the heat that drives Earth's interior, before atoms and molecules enter. From there the course turns to atoms, elements, and the periodic table, then to bonds, the forces between particles, and the properties of the materials they make.

The second semester follows the California storyline into reactions and their energy, the chemistry of Earth's climate, rates and equilibrium, and acids, bases, and the changing ocean. Climate data are drawn from public records and read for what they show. Readings stand alone, most problems carry hints and worked solutions, and practice deals randomized questions from skill pools until each idea holds.

Syllabus

Every published lesson in this course, by unit. Upcoming units fill in as their lessons publish.

1Combustion: energy and matter in food and fuels4 lessons
  1. 1Working safely and measuring well
  2. 2Energy in food: soda-can calorimetry
  3. 3Physical and chemical changes
  4. 4Burning things: fuels, products and the missing mass
2Heat and energy in the Earth system8 lessons
  1. 1Temperature and the motion of particles
  2. 2Heat, temperature and thermal equilibrium
  3. 3Investigation: mixing hot and cold water
  4. 4Calorimetry
  5. 5Conduction, convection and radiation, particle by particle
  6. 6Engineering: modeling heat flow through a wall
  7. 7Earth's internal heat
  8. 8A solid Earth that flows: the evidence for mantle convection
3Atoms, elements and molecules16 lessons
  1. 1The periodic table as a model: patterns first
  2. 2Models of the atom, from billiard balls to Bohr
  3. 3Atoms, molecules and chemical representations
  4. 4Isotopes and average atomic mass
  5. 5Electrons in shells
  6. 6Periodic trends
  7. 7Valence electrons and ionic compounds
  8. 8Lewis diagrams
  9. 9Why carbon makes fuels: hydrocarbons and their combustion
  10. 10Names and formulas of compounds
  11. 11Moles and molar mass
  12. 12Composition and mixtures
  13. 13Investigation: a hydrate and constant composition
  14. 14Representations of reactions
  15. 15Balancing chemical equations
  16. 16Stoichiometry and limiting reactants
4Bonds, forces and the properties of matter7 lessons
  1. 1Investigation: properties reveal bonds
  2. 2Types of chemical bonds
  3. 3Ionic solids and the energy of two charges
  4. 4Molecular shape and polarity
  5. 5Intermolecular forces
  6. 6Properties of solids, liquids and gases
  7. 7Energy of phase changes
ExamSemester 1 final examUpcoming
5Reactions and their energy7 lessons
  1. 1Representations of solutions
  2. 2Solubility
  3. 3Types of reactions
  4. 4Endothermic and exothermic processes
  5. 5Investigation: hot and cold packs
  6. 6Bond energy: breaking and making bonds
  7. 7Energy in photosynthesis and respiration
6The chemistry of climate change12 lessons
  1. 1Combustion revisited: where the mass goes and how much CO2
  2. 2Energy from fuels
  3. 3Gases in the atmosphere: pressure, the gas laws and parts per million
  4. 4Earth's energy budget and the greenhouse effect
  5. 5Why some molecules trap heat
  6. 6Climate feedbacks: ice, albedo, water vapor and clouds
  7. 7The carbon cycle as a quantitative model
  8. 8Reading the climate record
  9. 9Climate models and forecasts
  10. 10Human impacts as chains of cause and effect
  11. 11Energy resources: fuels, costs and benefits
  12. 12Engineering: chemistry against emissions
7Rates and equilibrium8 lessons
  1. 1Reaction rates
  2. 2Collisions and energy profiles
  3. 3Investigation: what changes a reaction's rate
  4. 4Catalysts
  5. 5Dynamic equilibrium
  6. 6Le Chatelier's principle
  7. 7Engineering: getting more product from a chemical system
  8. 8Dissolving and precipitating: calcium carbonate
8Acids, bases and the changing ocean10 lessons
  1. 1Solutions and concentration
  2. 2Acids and bases: proton transfer, strong and weak
  3. 3The pH scale
  4. 4Neutralization
  5. 5The ocean as a CO2 sink
  6. 6The carbonate system and ocean acidification
  7. 7Seawater's carbonate buffer
  8. 8Shells, limestone and acid
  9. 9Shell-builders under pressure: pteropods, corals and food webs
  10. 10Engineering: simulate a response to ocean acidification
ExamSemester 2 final examUpcoming