Chemistry Commons^™

Corrosion Prevention Of Aluminum Alloy, Andrea Brenner

Symposium of Student Scholars

Aluminum alloy (Al-alloy) is a widely used metal in construction, aerospace, aviation, and other necessary fields due to its lightweight and tweakable properties. However, corrosion is inevitable on metals and alloys, and that causes millions of dollars of revenue loss every year. Therefore, we propose to research fabricating coating to prevent corrosion on Al-alloy. This study uses an iron-based metal-organic framework (MOF) and polyurethane (PU) based composite coating to prevent corrosion on the Al-alloy. The makeup of the composite material is changed by varying the percentage of MOF. In addition, a binder is also used to enhance the homogenization between …

Elemental Analysis Of Legacy Sediments At College Lake, Amelia Dalton

Student Scholar Showcase

College Lake is a large reservoir located on the campus of the University of Lynchburg. College Lake’s ecosystem has degraded over the years due to the buildup of sediment, nutrients, and raw sewage. Increased urbanization in the area has also most likely contributed to the contaminants present within the system. Because of flooding issues during the summer of 2018, Lynchburg CIty officials drained College Lake, which caused sediment to be released downstream. To better understand the transport of heavy metals in the sediments released from College Lake, sediment core samples were taken from College Lake, Hollins Mill Park, and Sandusky …

Lake Sediment Analysis At Heron Haven Nature Center, Erik Lato

UNO Student Research and Creative Activity Fair

Understanding the chemical composition of a wetland sanctuary lakebed can help us understand how recent developments may have changed the chemical composition. Due to recent dredging by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and previous research on water composition at Heron Haven, the goal of this project was to determine the chemical composition as a function of sediment depth. The concentration of seven different metals and nutrients were analyzed in terms of depth. The aluminum, iron, and phosphate concentrations had no real discernible concentration change as a function of depth. There is some hint of a steady increase of manganese …

Elevated Calcium Levels In Kentucky Lake: A Possible Emerging Problem With An Invasive Species, Adam T. Martin

Posters-at-the-Capitol

Zebra mussels (Dreissena polymorpha) are an exotic and invasive mollusk that have spread extensively through various rivers and lakes in the United States. These mussels are notorious for their “biofouling” capabilities costing billions of dollars in their removal from industrial, public, and power plant water supply lines. While having been present in the Tennessee River drainage with occasional small reproducing populations since the early 1990s, zebra mussels were never abundant or widespread. In 2017, high densities were found on structures and solid substrates throughout the lower portion of Kentucky Lake. Calcium is one of the essential elements that contributes …

Consumption Profiles Of Illicit And Neuropsychiatric Drugs In Urban And Rural Communities In Kentucky Using Sewage Epidemiology, Tara Croft, Katelyn Foppe, Rhiannon Huffines, Bikram Subedi

Posters-at-the-Capitol

The drug overdose deaths in the USA increased by ~20% from 2015 to 2016 to the total >63,600 drug overdose deaths in 2016. Kentucky is among the highest rate of drug overdose death states in the USA. The current estimates of the prevalence of substance abuse are based on the self-reported surveys, overdose/toxicological reports, and drug-related crime statistics. Survey-based conventional approaches are not only cost and time-intensive but also underestimate the actual consumption of drugs. As “wastewater never lie,” the drug residues in raw wastewater collected from the centralized wastewater treatment plants were utilized to determine the consumption rate of …

Catalytic Deoxygenation Of Model And Realistic Feeds To Fuel-Like Hydrocarbons Over Supported Nickel-Copper Catalysts, Deyshon Ward, Kazi Javed

Posters-at-the-Capitol

The goal was to make a renewable fuel by using catalysts to remove oxygen molecules from fats. This is a current issue that society faces today because nonrenewable fossil fuels hurt the environment more than they help it. There are two components that make up a heterogeneous catalyst, a support and a reduced metal active phase. The active metal phases Nickel, Palladium, Platinum have been studied in the past on an alumina and carbon supports. We were investigating other supports using Nickel as the active phase component to determine the effect the support has on the catalyst removing oxygen of …

Concentration, Amount And Counting By Weighing, Julian Tyson

Science and Engineering Saturday Seminars

Concentration, Amount and Counting by Weighing

UMass Amherst STEM Ed Institute Saturday Workshop 2/3/2018

Julian Tyson, Professor Emeritus, Department of Chemistry. Tyson@chem.umass.edu

Session 1. Introductions.

Ice-breaker: The elementarity contest.

Setting the scene: “How much arsenic do we eat?” Why do we want to know? The Consumer Reports articles (Nov 2012 and Nov 2014)

Dealing with really big and really small numbers.

Session 2. Amount, concentration

Solids, liquids and gases. The “parts per” concept.

Session 3. Counting by weighing

The count equation. Rice grains (the bottle content problem), atoms and molecules.. Chemical formulas and balanced chemical expressions. The numbers in the …

Tunable Copper Complexes For Sustainable Photocatalysis, David Kline

Posters-at-the-Capitol

Photoredox catalysis has direct applications in sustainable chemistry and thus an immense impact on our environment. With the ability to harness energy directly from the sun to catalyze useful chemical reactions, photocatalysts can help to eliminate the need for harsh reaction conditions and reduce generation of hazardous chemical waste. Photocatalysts based on Earth-abundant metals such as copper have recently emerged as sustainable alternatives to rare-earth metals including iridium and ruthenium, which are no longer required for many photocatalyzed chemical transformations.

Spectrofluorometric Analysis Of Bisphenol-A In Drinking Water Bottles, Jeff Brochetti

Student Scholar Showcase

Spectrofluorometric Analysis of Bisphenol-A in Drinking Water Bottles

Bisphenol-A (BPA) is of environmental concern due to its ability to act as an endocrine disruptor in humans and many other animals. In the food industry, BPA is widely used in the production of plastic bottles and plastic liners in aluminum cans. Over time, trace amounts of BPA can leach from the container and into the contents inside. A new method of testing for trace amount of BPA involved the formation of an inclusion complex with ß-Cyclodextrin. With the formation of the inclusion complex, it becomes much easier to analyze low concentrations …

Soil Chemistry Response To Wollastonite (Casio3) Addition At Hubbard Brook, Chris E. Johnson

Chris E Johnson

No abstract provided.

Soil Chemistry Response To Wollastonite (Casio3) Addition At Hubbard Brook, Chris E. Johnson

Civil and Environmental Engineering

No abstract provided.

How Much Arsenic Do We Eat?, Julian Tyson

Science and Engineering Saturday Seminars

No abstract provided.

Insights Into Forest Soil Carbon Dynamics From Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy, Chris E. Johnson

Chris E Johnson

No abstract provided.

Insights Into Forest Soil Carbon Dynamics From Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy, Chris E. Johnson

Civil and Environmental Engineering

No abstract provided.

Chemical Properties Of Forest Soils In The Catskills Region, Chris E. Johnson

Chris E Johnson

No abstract provided.

Chemical Properties Of Forest Soils In The Catskills Region, Chris E. Johnson

Civil and Environmental Engineering

No abstract provided.

Recovery Of Sensitive Watersheds In The Northeastern United States From Chronic Acidification: The Role Of Soil Chemistry, Chris E. Johnson

Chris E Johnson

No abstract provided.

Recovery Of Sensitive Watersheds In The Northeastern United States From Chronic Acidification: The Role Of Soil Chemistry, Chris E. Johnson

Civil and Environmental Engineering

No abstract provided.

Institute Overview, Morton Sternheim

STEM Digital

Digital cameras and computers are widely available for students and teachers. However, they are mainly used for documentation: creating PPT presentations, handouts, posters, etc. STEM DIGITAL shows how digital image analysis can be applied to environmental (and other) research in STEM courses. Application to studies of air quality, water quality, arsenic contamination, climate change, diffusion, etc.

Digital Camera Basics, Stephen Schneider

STEM Digital

No abstract provided.

Measuring G With Movie Tracker, Stephen Schneider

STEM Digital

No abstract provided.

Detecting And Mixing Colors, Rob Snyder

STEM Digital

How can Analyzing Digital Images software reveal the differences between primary colors of light and primary colors of paints or pigments?

Leaf Leaching Experiment, David Reckhow

STEM Digital

Water treatment engineers and public health officials need to pay careful attention to the presence of dissolved organic matter in water supplies selected for human consumption (i.e., raw drinking waters).

Measuring Albedo With Adi - An Intensity Application, Morton Sternheim

STEM Digital

Why are Polar Regions more affected by global warming than other parts of the globe? One reason (there are others) is that as sea ice melts and more open water appears, more energy is absorbed, and warming accelerates. This is a form of positive feedback and it makes the polar climate change faster than the climate in temperate areas. Increasing vegetation on land also has a similar positive feedback effect. This effect is a change in the albedo – the fraction of the incident sunlight that is reflected back to space.

Stem Digital And Adi In The Classroom, Jennifer Welborn

STEM Digital

Applications of ADI by students at Amherst Regional Middle School

Co2 Diffusion Through Gelatin Experiment, Jennifer Welborn

STEM Digital

An example of measuring lengths.

Natural Organic Matter In Water, David Reckhow

STEM Digital

Formation in Watersheds and Removal in Water Treatment

Using Adi To Quantify A Color Change In Crayfish, Jennifer Welborn

STEM Digital

Do Crayfish Change Color If Their Environment Changes? A Guided Inquiry Lab for 7th grade Life Science

Background: There is anecdotal evidence from bass fisherman that crayfish are able to change color depending on their surroundings. A (cursory) literature review of this phenomenon showed that no formal research has been done in this area. Students had an additional informal lesson about research funding (or lack thereof) because of this finding.

Students designed and conducted a controlled experiment to see the effect of changing environment color on crayfish color.

ADI was used to quantify a color change.

Human Variation In Skin Color And Race As A Social Construct, Jennifer Welborn

STEM Digital

This lesson is part of evolution unit which follows heredity and genetics

The lesson is interdisciplinary in nature in that I discuss the concept of race as a social construct and the idea that there are “black, white, red, yellow” skinned people is something that people developed. It is not based on biology. Race groupings are human-made groups.

Students first learn about mixing light and how to determine black and white from an ADI analysis. They learn that red and green = yellow, etc.

They then photograph each other’s forearms and analyze the images using ADI.

We then discuss skin …

Air Quality: Carbon Dioxide, Deborah Carlisle, Stephen Schneider

STEM Digital

Measuring CO2 with BTB and ADI.