Aquatic Chemistry

3 units

Aquatic chemistry governs aspects of the biogeochemical cycling of trace metals and nutrients, contaminant fate and transport, and the performance of water and wastewater treatment processes. This course examines chemical reactions relevant to natural and engineered aquatic systems. A quantitative approach emphasizes the solution of chemical equilibrium and kinetics problems. Topics covered include chemical equilibrium and kinetics, acid-base equilibria and alkalinity, dissolution and precipitation of solids, complexation of metals, oxidation-reduction processes, and reactions on solid surfaces. A primary objective of the course is to be able to formulate and solve chemical equilibrium problems for complex environmental systems. In addition to solving problems manually to develop chemical intuition regarding aquatic systems, software applications for solving chemical equilibrium problems are also introduced.