JCE Online Journal of Chemical Education
 | Subscriptions  | Software Orders  | Support  | Contributors  | Advertisers  | 

JCE Print
   Current Issue
 Previous Issues
 Supplements
 Search JCE Index

JCE Digital Library
   DigiDemos
 QBank
 SymMath
 WebWare

JCE Software
   Latest Releases
 Software & Video
 Downloads
 Support

Only@JCE Online
   JCE Online Store
 JCE HS CLIC
 JCE Discussion Forums
   Biographical Snapshots
 ChemEd Resource Shelf
 Featured Molecules
 Hal's Picks
 Project Chemlab
 Reviewed WWW Sites
 "Web-Ed" Articles

About JCE
   Features
 Publications
 Operations
 Outreach
 Contact Us


  Home > JCE Print > Journal of Chemical Education > Issues > 2000  > December  >
Chemistry for Everyone
Climate Change and Its Effect on Coral Reefs
Ralph E. Weston Jr.
Chemistry Department, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, NY 11973-5000
Cover
December 2000
Vol. 77 No. 12
p. 1574
Abstract
The viability of coral reefs has been linked to the extent to which the overlying sea water is supersaturated with respect to calcium carbonate, which in turn depends on the concentration of dissolved carbon dioxide. Projections of a future increase in carbon dioxide emissions indicate that the health of coral reefs may be seriously endangered, and trends in this direction already have been observed. The equilibria involved in this chemical system demonstrate several important concepts in elementary physical chemistry: Henry's law of gas solubility, solubility products of solids, and acid-base equilibria and dissociation constants. The calcium carbonate-water-carbon dioxide system is discussed in terms of these elementary concepts. Then a computer program available on the Internet is used, together with realistic parameters for tropical seawater, to calculate the extent of calcium carbonate supersaturation with the current atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide and that predicted for the beginning of the next century.
More Information
*  Citation
 Weston, Ralph E., Jr. J. Chem. Educ. 2000 77 1574.
*  Keywords
 Acid–Base Chemistry; Environmental Chemistry; Geochemistry; Introductory / High School Chemistry; Water / Water Chemistry
*  History
 Created:
Last Updated:		 November 3, 2000
April 15, 2005
<< Previous Article Table of Contents Next Article >>
  Home > JCE Print > Journal of Chemical Education > Issues > 2000 > December > Page 1574


Subscriptions
 Subscription Info
 Order Forms

JCE HS CLIC

Our Secondary School editors work hard to distill all the JCE materials to produce a fraction of particular interest to high school teachers. We call it CLIC.
 JCE HS CLIC

Contributions Welcome
JCE welcomes your submission
 Contributors' Corner

Advertisers
In recent years we have worked hard to better match our advertisers with our readers. When shopping for chemistry education materials, visit our advertisers' WWW sites first.
 Recent Advertisers

Be An Ambassador
Take JCE along on your outreach missions. Copies of the Journal, guest access to JCE Online, our publications catalog, and more are available for your participants.
 Outreach with JCE

Comments to
jceonline@chem.wisc.edu		 Copyright © Division of Chemical Education, Inc., American Chemical Society.
All rights reserved.