Improving Curricula in Chemistry and Geology by the Integration of Environmentally Relevant Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy throughout Undergraduate Studies

化学(12)原子吸收光谱(AAS)是定量分析对环境健康至关重要的痕量元素的不可或缺的工具。为了给本科生提供与环境相关的原子吸收光谱的经验，化学和地质科学系正在仪器方法实验室、环境化学和水相地球化学实验室引入强化的、动手操作的、以项目为导向的实验。高年级化学课程的学生还在进行普通化学实验室学生收集和准备的漆片样本中铅的分析。高级和初级化学学生正在为孟菲斯和谢尔比县卫生局准备一份报告，总结结果并评估含铅油漆风险的地区范围。定量分析实验室的学生正在收集痕量金属分析数据，并创建一个数据库，用于实验数据的统计处理教学。AA光谱仪能够对砷、硒、汞、铅和铬等金属进行痕量测定，对于选择化学和地质科学环境项目的本科生研究人员，以及与物理、地理、生物和生物医学工程系以及地下水研究所的环境课程和跨学科研究，AA光谱仪也正在成为一个重要的资源。

Chemistry (12)Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy (AAS) is an indispensable tool for the quantitative analyses of trace elements critical to environmental health. To provide undergraduates with experience with environmentally relevant AAS, the Departments of Chemistry and Geological Sciences are introducing intensive, hands-on, project-oriented experiments in Instrumental Methods Laboratory, Environmental Chemistry, and Aqueous Geochemistry Laboratory. Students in the upper-division chemistry courses are also performing an analysis of lead in paint chip samples gathered and prepared by General Chemistry laboratory students. Collaboratively, the advanced and beginning chemistry students are preparing a report for the Memphis and Shelby County Health Department summarizing results and assessing the regional scope of the lead-paint risk. Students in the Quantitative Analysis Laboratory are gathering trace metal analysis data and creating a database to be used for teaching the statistical treatment of experimental data. The AA spectrometer, capable of trace-level determinations of metals such as arsenic, selenium, mercury, lead and chromium, is also becoming a significant resource for undergraduate researchers who choose environmental projects in Chemistry and Geological Sciences and for environmental courses in and interdisciplinary research with Physics, Geography, Biology, and Biomedical Engineering Departments and the Groundwater Institute.