Our Atmosphere: A Chemical Perspective Lecture 1

AY 20102011, Semester I
Ms. Prabha Janardhana,

Instructor, Department of Chemistry
email : chmjp@nus.edu.sg
GEK1535
Our Atmosphere:
A Chemical Perspective
Our Atmosphere: A Chemical Perspective
The Ozone Hole
Global Warming
Air Pollution
The Gaia Hypothesis
How Life Began?
Course Highlights
To understand:
The past, present and future chemistry of the
atmosphere;
The relationship between the biota and the
composition of the atmosphere; and,
The way scientists think The Scientific Method

Aims and Objectives
1. A brief history of atmospheric science
2. The birth and evolution of our atmosphere
3. The physical structure of the atmosphere
4. Biogeochemical cycles
5. Elementary photochemistry and kinetics
Syllabus
6. Stratospheric ozone
7. Tropospheric air pollution
8. Greenhouse gases and global warming
9. The Gaia hypothesis
10. Eco-philosophy and environmental politics
Read not to contradict and confute, nor to believe and take for granted, nor to find
talk and discourse, but to weigh and consider.
Of Studies, Essays (1597)
Francis Bacon, Baron Verulam

All course texts have been placed in RBR collections
at either the Central Library or Science Library
The main course text, The Earth System by Lee Kump,
James Kasting and Robert Crane, can be purchased
from the Science Cooperative Bookstore
Reading Lists
In the words of the respected geneticist, J. B. S.
Haldane:
Teaching Objectives
It is the whole business of the university
teacher to induce people to think.
The philosopher, A. N. Whitehead, wrote:
It should be the chief aim of the university
professor to exhibit himself in his true
characterthat is as an ignorant man
thinking.
noun: A method of procedure that has characterised
natural science since the 17
th
century, consisting in
scientific observation, measurement, and experiment,
and the formulation, testing, and modification of
hypotheses.
Oxford English Dictionary

The Scientific Method
Schematic Diagram of the Scientific Method
Source :
Environmental Science,
Sixth Edition
Botkin and Keller
Chapter 2, Page22
How does Beer Froth Decay with Time?
Three years ago, a very interesting communication to
the scientific literature was published:
Demonstration of the exponential decay law using beer froth, A. Leike,
Eur. J . Phys., 23, 2126, 2002.
It addressed a question of such great concern that the
author, Arnd Leike, won an Ig Nobel Award in that
very same year
The Hypothesis
The volume of beer froth decays exponentially with
time
A reasonable explanation for such a hypothesis might
be that the rate at which froth disappears is
proportional to the weight of froth
When half the froth has gone, the weight of froth left is halved and
so the rate at which froth disappears at this stage will also be halved
If we use a cylindrical beaker, then because

we can simply measure the height of the beer froth as a
function of time and see if it decays exponentially
Testing the Hypothesis
area height volume =
|
.
|
\
|
=
=
t
t
h t h
t
exp ) (
0
Thus, our mathematical model for the decay of the
beer froth becomes:

where h is the height of the froth, t is the time and is
the decay constant
Early history of atmospheric chemistry
What is the nature of air?
Vegetable staticks
Dr. Joseph Black (17281799)
The problem of combustion
1. A Brief History of Atmospheric
Science
Henry Cavendish (17311810)
The discovery of oxygen
Joseph Priestley (17331804)
Antoine-Laurent Lavoisier (17431794)
Astrometeorology developed by the Babylonians and
Chinese and still in use today
The superstitious linking of astronomical and astrological events to
predict the weather
The four universal elements fire, air, water, and
earth proposed by Empedocles (c.493c.433 BC)
Taught that these elements mingle and separate under the influence
of the opposing forces of Love and Strife
According to legend, he leapt into Mount Etna in order that he
might be thought of a god
Early History of Atmospheric Science
Meteorologica written by Aristotle (384322 BC)
First written attempt to explain weather phenomena based on visual
observations and speculation
Recognised water as a distinct component of air, and realised that
this element was continuously recycled between the atmosphere and
the ocean
Remained the basis of all meteorology until the scientific revolution
some 2000 years later
A translation of the full text can be found at
http://classics.mit.edu/Aristotle/meteorology.html

After the Greek period, little progress was made until
the Renaissance
First, Leonardo da Vinci (14521519) and then later
John Mayow (16411679) suggested that air is
composed of two distinct components:
Fire-air that supports combustion and life; and,
Foul-air that does not
What is the Nature of Air?
The assumption remains, however, that air is a single
substance as envisaged by the early Greek thinkers
Vegetable Staticks
In 1727, the Reverend Stephen
Hales (16711769) published his
Vegetable Staticks, a report on plant
respiration and transpiration that
laid the groundwork for
photosynthesis
Hales noted that in his
experiments air could be released
from solids through the application
of heat
Dr. Joseph Black (17281799)
In searching for a method that
would dissolve gallstones, Black
discovered that a new air was
given off when magnesium
carbonate was heated
This air turned lime water milky
and did not support life
Black gave it the name fixed air
now known as carbon dioxide
It was now finally realised that air was not one
substance, and the search was on to find more airs
Combustion was completely misunderstood by the
alchemists and early chemists
It was known that air was needed to sustain combustion and to
sustain life
Also known that when a metal was heated in air it changed and
gained weight
Two Germans called Becher and Stahl developed the
Phlogiston theory
It was suggested that during burning some part of the substance
was given off and this substance was called phlogiston
If something gave off a lot of heat, it was thought to be rich in
phlogiston
The Problem of Combustion
Henry Cavendish (17311810)
Cavendish was the first to suggest
that air is a complex mixture of
different airs and did himself
discover a new air
This air burns explosively and is
much less dense than air
Cavendish gave it the name
inflammable air now known as
hydrogen
It was thought that inflammable air might be pure
phlogiston
Three so-called Pneumatic Chemists independently
discovered oxygen in the 1770s
The Discovery of Oxygen
Carl Wilhelm Scheele
in 1773
Joseph Priestley
in 1774
Antoine-Laurent Lavoisier
in 1779
Perhaps foremost amongst the Pneumatic Chemists,
Priestley was the great investigator of various airs
In his investigations of how the solubility of fixed air varies with
pressure, Priestley discovered Soda Water
Heated Mercury Oxide and isolated the air released
Noted that it supported combustion and was totally consumed and so
called it dephlogisticated air
Priestley visited the Lavoisiers in Paris in 1774 and related his
studies into this new type of air
Joseph Priestley (17331804)
Priestley never recognised what he had discovered and
for all his useful and interesting experiments, he never
produced a new system of chemistry
Lavoisier understood the importance of the new air
and his studies led to a chemical revolution
Named the new air oxygen
Stated that combustion is always and only to do with oxygen, which
combines with other substances during combustion
In collaboration with Pierre-Simon de Laplace, showed that animal
respiration was a slow form of combustion with the consumption of
oxygen and the release of carbon dioxide
In noting that the weight gained by a substance in combustion is lost
by the air, he established the Law of Conservation of Mass upon which
all modern chemistry is founded
Published the first modern chemistry textbook
Trait lmentaire de chimie
Antoine-Laurent Lavoisier (17431794)

It is thus that the birth of atmospheric science is linked
inextricably to the emergence of chemistry as a distinct
and rational science
His theory of combustion explained the observation by
Cavendish that water was released when hydrogen is
burnt, i.e. that water is a molecule
Introduced the word gas to mean any chemical
substance in the vaporous state, and thus reserved the
word air to mean only the atmosphere
Rightly regarded as the Father of Modern Chemistry

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AY 20102011, Semester I

Ms. Prabha Janardhana,

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