William C. Trogler, Eric Bruner, Glenn Westwood, Barbara Sawrey, and Patrick Neill
Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry
University of California at San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093-0358.

Equilibrium, Dynamics, Reactivity, and Energetics

   The chemistry of nitrogen compounds is complex, because of the wide range of oxidation states encountered in common nitrogen-based chemicals. This makes learning difficult for students, and they often regard the study of nitrogen's descriptive chemistry dull. The objective is to make descriptive chemistry more palatable for the second semester general chemistry student by presenting the material from the perspective of the global nitrogen cycle. This includes biological, geological, atmospheric, and anthropogenic processing. It incorporates quantitative aspects of equilibrium and kinetics. The discussion will highlight the Level III module tools of Reactivity, Dynamics,and Energetics.

   The descriptive chemistry of nitrogen compounds is presented in the context of its relevance to biological, geological, atmospheric, and industrial chemistry. Nitrogen-based fertilizers are crucial for supporting agriculture in the face of an expanding population, yet the same material has been used in terrorist bombs. Urban smog, acid rain, the greenhouse effect, stratospheric ozone depletion, and water pollution all have significant connections with the global nitrogen cycle. Nitric oxide, once primarily known as a toxic smog component, has more recently been identified as a cellular messenger. The goal of this module is to discover the descriptive chemistry of common nitrogen compounds relevant to environmental and biological problems. Principles of redox chemistry, thermodynamics, and kinetics provide a foundation for illustrating this relevance. This module contains text material and problems for students, as well as an online kinetics experiment. It has been designed so that pieces of it can be used to better conform to the instructor's needs. Sections 1 and 2 could be used as an introduction to nitrogen chemistry, while Section 3 has been designed with the possibility of it being used as a stand-alone kinetics virtual experiment irrespective of the rest of the module. Sections 4, 5, and 6 are in depth topics of current interest and one or more could be selected as a complement to Sections 1 and 2, depending on the instructor's preference. Suggestions for in class discussions are included in Sections 1 and 2.

Copyright © 1997 by William C. Trogler, Eric Bruner, Glenn Westwood,

Barbara Sawrey, and Patrick Neill. Reproduction or translation of any part of

this work beyond that permitted by Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 United

States Copyright Act without the permission of the copyright holder is

unlawful. Requests for permission or further information should be

addressed to the ModularChem Consortium.

This work was supported by a grant from the National Science Foundation,

#DUE-9455924.