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Concerns about atmospheric ammonia have been expressed recently by some on the Lower Eastern Shore (LES) of Maryland, which lies between the Chesapeake Bay and the Atlantic Ocean on the Delmarva peninsula. Agriculture, seafood and tourism are responsible for a significant fraction of the economic activity on the LES. The USDA 2017 census reported there were ~100 Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs) raising nearly 63 M chickens per year across Somerset and Worcester Counties. We report air quality data collected from sites near Princess Anne, Somerset County, and near Pocomoke City, Worcester County, to address air quality concerns by examining the influence of chicken farms on ammonia in ambient air on the LES. Within a two-mile radius of the Worcester County site, CAFO operations house ~1.6 million birds. The Princess Anne site is comparable to the Pocomoke City site in agricultural use and population demographics but has only a few chicken houses within two miles. The first 33 months of LES ammonia data are presented, and their significance is discussed relative to other ammonia studies. The 33-month average concentration of ammonia in Pocomoke was 10.3 ± 0.08 ppb, more than double that in Princess Anne, which was 4.7 ± 0.04 ppb.

This paper describes a new approach to the traditional iodine gas absorption spectrum experiment often performed in undergraduate physical chemistry labs. The approach is student centered and designed to emphasize the conceptual richness in this classic experiment. It gives students the opportunity to examine the conceptual and mathematical connections between spectroscopic data and quantum models by organizing the material in conceptual chunks, which they work through sequentially. Students use symbolic mathematics software, Mathcad, to expedite the sophisticated numerical calculations required. The curricular chunks were specifically constructed to make the sophisticated concepts embedded in the project accessible. The focus activities remind the students of information they already know and require them to employ both paper and pencil and computer worksheets to complete calculations. Five Mathcad templates provide a rich mathematical treatment of the topics in this experiment. This paper describes how the documents MorsePotential.mcd, BirgeSponer.mcd, IodineSpectrum.mcd, FranckCondonBackground.mcd, and FranckCondonComputation.mcd are used during the three weeks in which this experiment can be performed by a typical physical chemistry student. Although originally designed to use the WWW to disseminate information and promote interaction among physical chemistry students at geographically dispersed institutions, this segmented focus-question approach to the iodine experiment has also been used by a physical chemistry class at a single campus. In both formats, faculty noticed decreased anxiety of the students towards the experiment and an increase in the quality of laboratory reports that indicated better understanding of the chemical concepts.

A questionnaire and list server archive were used to investigate the perception of students and faculty who took part in a physical chemistry online project. Students at four universities worked cooperatively in their own classrooms and collaborated as a larger team on the Internet via a list server to determine the best mathematical model to describe the PV behavior of a gas at a specified temperature. The strengths of the project were the interaction among students, the use of Mathcad and modern technology, and the experience of authentic problem-solving. The weaknesses were the problems with the technology, the facilitation of interaction, and the student's ability to ask questions to solve an ill-defined problem. The suggestions for improvements focused on facilitating interuniversity interaction between students, clarifying tasks and goals, and implementation of the online activities. We discuss how our evaluation of the project guided and informed the design of a subsequent online project, and our planning for future projects. In addition, we describe the professional learning community that evolved among faculty who participated in this project.

Design of a case study appropriate for the first few weeks of a typical physical chemistry course - an exercise in curve fitting and model testing to develop students skills with statistics.