Climate Change Chemistry

Preface: The Moonshot that Inspired a Movement and Brought Earth Back into Focus

About the Author

About the Companion Website

Part I: Chemical Bonding and Vibrational Modes

1. Fundamentals of Quantum Mechanics

1.1 Connection between Quantum Chemistry and the Stars

1.2 Black Body Radiation Classical Mechanics and the Ultraviolet Catastrophe

1.3 The Photoelectric Effect

1.4 The Uncertainty Principle

1.5 De Broglie Waves

1.6 The Schrodinger Equation

1.6.1 So, why i?

1.6.2 Hamilton’s Contribution

1.7 The Copenhagen Interpretation

1.8 The Particle in a Box

1.9 Quantum Numbers

1.10 Wave functionsFunctions

1.10.1 Wave function Function collapse Collapse

1.11 Quantum Numbers

1.11.1 Quantum Numbers and Atomic Orbitals

1.11.2 Many-Electron Atoms

1.13 The Aufbau (“Building Up”) Principle

1.14 Energy Level Transitions Resulting From from Photon Absorptions

1.14.1 Excited statesStates

2. Chemical Bonding

2.1 Fundamental Bonding Theory

2.1.1 Lewis Electron-Dot Diagrams

2.2 Formal Charges

2.3 Resonance

2.3.1 Rules for Resonance

2.4 Oxidation States

2.4.1 Simple approach without bonding considerations

2.4.2. Oxidation States of Carbon

2.5 Valence Shell Electron Pair Repulsion (VSEPR) Theory

2.5.Molecular Orbitals and Covalent Bonding

2.6.1 Linear combination of atomic orbitals (LCAO)

2.6.2 The simple 1e- Hydrogen Molecule (H2+)

2.6.3 The 2e- Hydrogen Molecule

2.7 Bonding, antibonding, and nonbonding MOs

2.7.1 Sigma and π-bond descriptions for MOs

2.7.2 σ symmetry

2.7.3 π symmetry

2.7.4 δ symmetry

2.8 Electron configurations for 2nd Row Homonuclear Diatomics

2.8.1 Molecular Orbitals for Heteronuclear Diatomic Molecules

2.9 Molecular Orbitals in Polyatomic Molecules

3. Group Theory, Point Groups, Vibrational Modes of Triatomic Gases

3.1 Group theory

3.1.1. From Molecular Geometry to Molecular Symmetry

3.2. Point groups of molecules

3.2.1 Systematic Point Group Classification

3.3 Working with Matrices

3.4 Representations of Point Groups

3.4.1 Symmetry Operations: Matrix Representations

3.5 Characters

3.5.1 Reducible and Irreducible Representations

3.5.2 Character Tables

3.5.3 Additional Features of Character tables

3.6 The Application of Group Theory and Molecular Symmetry:

A Fundamental Understanding of Why Some Gases are Greenhouse Gases

3.6.1 Degrees of Freedom

3.6.2 Water (C2v symmetry)

3.6.3 Reducing Representations to Irreducible Representations

3.7 Water Vapor as a Significant Percentage of the Greenhouse Effect

3.8 List of Most Abundant Greenhouse Gases

3.9 Toward a Fundamental Understanding of CO2 Molecular Vibrations and IR Active Absorption Modes

3.10 Finding the IR Active Modes of CO2 from the Reducible Representation

3.11 Global Warming Potential

3.12 Top of the Atmosphere (TOA) energy balance

3.13 If CO2 Is a Greenhouse Gas, Why Isn’t CO?

Part II: Chemical Reactivity and the Historic Progression from Regional to Global Anthropogenic Impacts: The Helsinki Protocol, The Montreal Protocol, and the Paris Agreement.

4. Molecular Orbital Theory and the Application of Electronic Structure Uup to Polyatomic Molecules

5. Methane, C-1 Chemistry and Chlorofluorocarbons

6. CO2: Global Warming and Ocean Acidification

Part III: Greenhouse Gas Mitigation Strategies

7. The Methanol Economy and Methane Oxidation

8. Artificial Photosynthesis and Water Oxidation: Hydrogen Production

9. CO2 Mitigation: Solar-Driven CO2 Reduction Reactions

10. Nitrogen Fixation and Ammonia Synthesis

Appendix A: Character Tables

Appendix B: ACS Statement on Climate Change

Index