About the final exam

The final exam will take place during our scheduled two hour time slot for the final exam. We will start at 8:30 instead of 8:00 am.

Small group reports on your papers. The paper is not due until the end of finals week. But you should prepare an informal oral report of about 3 minutes on the highlights of your paper. What did you find out about your topic in the process of carrying out the research and writing your paper?

  • #1: Aaron, Crystal, Jaden
  • #2: Tim, Katie, Quinn
  • #3: Fernando, Citlali, Veronica
  • #4: Grace, Richard, Kelsey
  • #5: Alexis, Nate, Sydney
  • #6: Ariana, Lupita, Willa
  • #7: Anna, Peri, Citlalli

At the beginning of the exam period (8:30 am) I'll put you in groups of about 3 students. You'll take turns giving your short oral reports to each other and taking questions. One of the questions on the final will involve summarizing someone else's project that you hear about and making a connection to climate change.

Exam You will have the remainder of the exam period (not less than an hour) for the written test. You may use any kind of calculator (but not a phone), writing instruments, and any notes that you prepare ahead of time.

Textbook by Hobson Bring it to the final to return it: I collected a deposit at the beginning of the semester on these. When you return your textbook to me, I'll refund \$5 of that deposit to you.

Review, ideally together with someone else Class notes, readings, and activities.

You may prepare one page of notes to refer to during the exam. Otherwise the exam is closed-book.

I'll give you the equations you would need to know. In addition to the equations from the midterm, I will give you any new equations that might be useful.

  • $P=E/t$. This relates power, $P$ (in watts) to energy, $E$ (in Joules) that is released/consumed in a time, $t$ (in seconds).
  • $\text{Payback period (years)}=\frac{\text{Initial Cost(\$)}}{\text{Yearly savings(\$/yr)}}.$
  • I'll also give you access to the Periodic Table (in our classroom!)

You should know metric units for things like energy, length, time, power, etc. as well as the meaning of the metric prefaces.

Topics for the final exam

The exam will be "semi-comprehensive". There will be some material from the first half of the course, but more of the questions will come from the last part of the course, since the mid-term exam (below):

Earth's Atmosphere

  • The composition of Earth's atmosphere.
  • Which of are Greenhouse Gases (GHGs) and which are not.
  • The 'natural greenhouse effect'.
  • Water and water vapor
    • Water as a GHG
    • meaning of 100% relative humidity, how water content in the atmosphere changes with temperature
    • Why human emissions of water vapor, which *is* a greenhouse gas, do not contribute to global warming as much as $CO_2$ emissions.
  • History of global warming research: How do we know what we know?
  • Feedback cycles which magnify (positive feedback) or shrink (negative feedback) some initial change to a complex system.

Chemistry

(Hobson Chapter 2) including

  • Atomic picture of temperature: That higher temperature means faster-moving molecules, and typically, things expand when heated.
  • Atomic picture of pressure: related to how many molecules are hitting the walls of the container, and how hard they're hitting. (Faster, as in higher temperatures, means hitting harder).
  • Brownian motion.
  • Reading chemical formulas and chemical equations.
  • Elements in the same column of the periodical table have similar chemical properties,
  • Atomic and molecular weights.
  • Results of the combustion worksheet I may ask you on the exam about the prices you researched, but not on the quiz.
  • From Hobson's Conceptual Exercises-Chapter 2 the exercises in "THE GREEK ATOM" and "ATOMS AND MOLECULES" would be helpful to quiz yourself.
  • GWPs

Electricity

  • Direct current (DC) and Alternating current (AC);
  • How electricity is produced; Waving magnets around near loops of wire to get AC (the Faraday Effect); Turbines (AC) powered by wind / falling water / heated steam; Photovoltaic panels (DC).
  • Dangers & risks associated with different electric generation systems.
  • How electricity is distributed; The "grid"; Intermittent power sources; Baseload power; Peaking power; Times of day when humans use a lot / less energy

Writing

  • Functions and purposes of citations

Reading

  • Climate of Man
  • XKCD 20,000 recent years of temperature history
  • Readings on Acid Rain
  • Review briefly other shorter readings

Renewable energy and intermittency

  • The problem of intermittent power. Which renewable energy sources are intermittent and which are not?.
  • Some strategies for dealing with intermittency: What other sources of electricity can be dispatched quickly or not? What incentives you can offer electric customers to use less electricity, or use electricity at times of the day when there is plenty of capacity?
  • "Nameplate" or maximum power for *any* power source; Capacity factor: What fraction (or percentage) of the maximum power is a generator producing on average?
  • Calculating the payoff from energy savings;
  • Calculating payback periods; What is a typical (or acceptable) payback period in American corporations?

COP and other international organization which attempt to confront climate change

  • The IPCC,
  • UN's role,
  • The limits of international agreements.
  • What things have countries committed to?
  • What issues are coming up in these conferences?
  • International action is not the only way to confront climate change. Other avenues? Examples of ways that other entities are important: Individuals, local/state governments, companies competing to sell things...
  • What was in that "Inflation Reduction Act" (IRA)??

    U.S. precedents to climate change

    Acid rain

    • Emission sources that resulted in $SO_2$, which dissolves in water drops. Rain is somewhat acidic.
    • Chemicals involved; the pH scale.
    • Environmental effects.
    • Cap and Trade system started in the 80's which. What was traded; What was capped; Lower costs than anticipated; Positive side effects due to reductions in air pollution

    I will ask you to write a short essay on the exam, in which you highlight similarities and differences between global warming and acid rain. Are there useful lessons in how we dealt with acid rain that might apply to global warming? What is different? [Make sure you read that Forbes article and digest it]