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Chemistry and the Environment covers a lot of ground, from climate science to water to recycling. Learn more with these links, including the Earth's ozone layer, greenhouse gases, forming a stream team, making a mini ocean model, recycling your old phone, and more.
Sections
Activities
- Climate Science: More Than Just a Weather Report from American Chemical Society Chemists Celebrate Earth Day
Several activities related to Climate Science: Cabbage Juice Indicator, UV Light and UV Detecting Beads, Climate Change Word Search and Collecting Particles from Air.
- Calculating Your Carbon Footprint from AACT
Students apply knowledge from chemical reactions and stoichiometry to estimate their carbon footprint.
- Cleaning-up the Plastic Island from AACT
Students work together to engineer a cost-effective and environmentally friendly solution for cleaning up the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.
- Climate Kids from NASA
Take a tour through the big questions of climate science, then try out games and activities.
- A Student's Guide to Global Climate Change from the US Environmental Protection Agency
If you’re ready to learn about climate, these hands-on, interactive lesson plans are waiting and ready for you. - Plastic Bags from Beyond Benign
How do you take your food home—paper, plastic, or reusable bags? Work with data and see how you measure up. - Stream Team from Utah State University
Put together your dream stream team to monitor the health of local waterways with this guide.
- Convection Detection from Exploratorium
It rises, then falls. And rises, then falls. And… these swirls and currents of color are hypnotizing.
- Water Diary from Thirteen.org
Did you take a short or long shower today? Did you wash your clothes? Keep track of how much water you use in a week.
- The Drill on the Spill: Learning About the Gulf Oil Leak in the Lab
from The New York Times
In this activity, students consider the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and related cleanup efforts.
Demos
- Carbon Dioxide Can make an Acidic Solution from MiddleSchoolChemistry.com
Students apply their observations to the environmental problem of ocean acidification.
Labs
- How Do We Clean Up An Oil Spill from AACT
In this lab activity, students simulate an oil spill and test different materials’ ability to “clean” the oil spill.
- Ocean Acidification in a Cup from Exploratorium
It’s an ocean mini-model. What will happen to the water when the air above it changes?
- Shell Shifts from Exploratorium
If seashells are under the water, how can changes in the air affect them? Learn how!
- Ocean Chemistry
These nine activities teach concepts related to ocean acidification, pH, carbon dioxide and coral reefs.
- Oil Spill Cleanup from Teach Engineering
Student teams create their own oil spills, try different methods for cleaning them up, and then discuss the merits of each method in terms of effectiveness (cleanliness) and cost.
Articles
- Bush Fires in Australia and Climate Change from ChemEd Xchange
How do the widespread fires in Australia potentially relate to climate change? This scientist takes a look.
- In the Fog About Smog from ChemMatters
This ChemMatters article can clear up any lingering brain fog you might have about this climate phenomenon.
- Clearing the Air from ChemMatters
More than 70 years ago, a deadly smog helped spur a national fight against air pollution. Today, most of us breathe cleaner air, but at least one primary pollutant is still putting the health of many at risk.
- Be Smart— Recycle that Old Cell Phone! From ChemMatters
What should you do with your cell phone when it dies? Recycling it offers both economic and environmental benefits.
- The Ozone Layer: Our Global Sunscreen from ChemMatters
Imagine running an experiment as large as the Earth. Now, stop imagining and read about one.
- The Chemistry of Biodegradable Plastics from Compound Interest
This Infographic explores the chemistry of biodegradable plastics and how they impact the environment.
- Great Pacific Garbage Patch from PBS News Hour
It’s not just trash talk—it’s really out there in the North Pacific. And it’s even bigger than they thought.
- Growing Green Death Trend from Business Insider
One state is about to offer a new choice of how you can deal with deceased human remains. Composting will soon be on the list.
- The Twelve Principles of Green Chemistry from Compound Interest
It's not easy being green. This infographic about the twelve principles of green chemistry at least gives us a start.
- National Facts and Figures About Recycling
How much heads to the trash per person? What gets recycled? Check out your numbers.
- Compost: Your Trash, Nature's Treasure from ChemMatters
Ah, rotting food. Turn your unwanted leftovers into a gold mine for your garden.
- It's Not Easy Being Green…Or Is It? from ChemMatters
Disposable or reusable mug? Paper or plastic bag? An item's Life Cycle Analysis can help you decide.
- The Flint Water Crisis: What’s Really Going On? from ChemMatters
What would you do if foul smelling, odd tasting, orange colored water were all that you could get from your tap?
- What Happens To Your Food Packaging? from Science Meets Food
Sometimes your food seems to be more package than food. Where do the wrappers go after you take the last bite?
- Traditional Ways of Knowing: Salt Harvesting from Exploring Our Fluid Earth
Seawater can make your food taste better. Learn how the water gets removed and leaves behind gourmet-style salt.
- Open For Discussion: Oil Drilling Disaster in the Gulf of Mexico
from ChemMatters
This short article discusses an oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010 and shows how chemistry relates to this environmental catastrophe.
Videos
- Burning Ice from the Ocean Floor from ACS Reactions
This Reactions video talks about the chemistry of methane hydrates as a source of energy and a climate change threat.
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Cow Burps Are Warming the Planet from ACS Reactions
Cows burp up a lot of methane thanks to the chemistry of their digestion and since methane is a greenhouse gas, our beef and dairy have huge climate change consequences.
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A plan to recycle the unrecyclable | Ashton Cofer from TED-Ed Clubs
From packing peanuts to disposable coffee cups, each year the US alone produces some two billion pounds of Styrofoam -- none of which can be recycled. Ashton Cofer and his science fair teammates developed a heating treatment to break down used Styrofoam into something useful.
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How Plastic Recycling Actually Works from ACS Reactions
What happens to plastic bottles when you recycle them? Learn why it's easier to turn bottles into workout shirts than it is to fully recycle the plastic.
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I Created an Oil Spill in My House from ACS Reactions
Bacteria are often painted as our adversaries, but when it comes to oil spills, toxic chemicals, and radioactive waste, they could be what save us from ourselves.