Instructor Insights

Instructor Insights pages are part of the OCW Educator initiative, which seeks to enhance the value of OCW for educators.

Course Overview

This page focuses on the course 1.84 Atmospheric Chemistry as it was taught by Professor Jesse Kroll in Fall 2013.

This class provides a detailed survey of the chemical reactions occurring in the Earth’s atmosphere, with a particular focus on those important for climate and air quality. The emphasis of the class is on the reactivity of key classes (families) of atmospheric species, with chemical/mechanistic complexity steadily increasing over the course of the semester. The emphasis of the lectures is on current topics of interest and results from the recent literature.

Course Outcomes

Course Goals for Students

To have a working understanding of the most important reactions (and their broad implications) in atmospheric chemistry, so that these can be applied within a wider context (laboratory/field measurements, modeling, etc).

 

Curriculum Information

Prerequisites

5.60 Thermodynamics and Kinetics

Requirements Satisfied

None

Offered

Every fall semester

The Classroom

  • A typical classroom with rows of seats, as well as chalkboards and a projector screen at the front of the class.

    Room 1 of 1

    Lecture

    1.84 was taught in a traditional classroom equipped with chalkboards and projectors.

 

Assessment

The students' grades were based on the following activities:

The color used on the preceding chart which represents the percentage of the total grade contributed by problem sets. 30% Problem sets
The color used on the preceding chart which represents the percentage of the total grade contributed by the midterm exam. 30% Midterm exam
The color used on the preceding chart which represents the percentage of the total grade contributed by a class presentation. 10% Class presentation
The color used on the preceding chart which represents the percentage of the total grade contributed by the final project. 30% Final project
 

Student Information

On average, fewer than 10 students take this course each time it is offered.

Breakdown by Year

Most students who take this course are graduate students, primarily from Ph.D. programs.

Breakdown by Major

Students are mostly from the Civil and Environmental Engineering or Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences departments (~50-50 split); other departments include Chemical Engineering and Engineering Systems Division.

Typical Student Background

A working understanding of college-level introductory chemistry.

 

How Student Time Was Spent

During an average week, students were expected to spend 12 hours on the course, roughly divided as follows:

Lecture

3 hours per week
  • Met 2 times per week for 1.5 hours per session; 24 sessions total; mandatory attendance.
  • The midterm exam and final project presentations took place during class sessions in lieu of lecture.
 

Out of Class

9 hours per week
 

Semester Breakdown

WEEK M T W Th F
1 No classes throughout MIT. No classes throughout MIT. Lecture session. No session scheduled. No session scheduled.
2 Lecture session. No session scheduled. Lecture session. No session scheduled. No session scheduled.
3 Lecture session. No session scheduled. Lecture session. No session scheduled. No classes throughout MIT.
4 Lecture session. No session scheduled. Lecture session; problem set due date. No session scheduled. No session scheduled.
5 Lecture session. No session scheduled. No session scheduled. No session scheduled. No session scheduled.
6 Guest lecture scheduled. No session scheduled. Lecture session; problem set due date. No session scheduled. No session scheduled.
7 No classes throughout MIT. No classes throughout MIT. Lecture session. No session scheduled. No session scheduled.
8 Lecture session. No session scheduled. Lecture session; problem set due date. No session scheduled. No session scheduled.
9 Lecture session. No session scheduled. Lecture session; midterm exam held. No session scheduled. No session scheduled.
10 Lecture session. No session scheduled. Lecture session. No session scheduled. No session scheduled; problem set due date.
11 No classes throughout MIT. No session scheduled. Lecture session. No session scheduled. No session scheduled.
12 Lecture session. No session scheduled. Lecture session. No session scheduled. No session scheduled.
13 Lecture session; problem set due date. No session scheduled. No session scheduled. No classes throughout MIT. No classes throughout MIT.
14 Lecture session. No session scheduled. Lecture session. No session scheduled. No session scheduled.
15 Student presentations. No session scheduled. No session scheduled; problem set due date. No classes throughout MIT. No classes throughout MIT.
16 No classes throughout MIT. No classes throughout MIT. No classes throughout MIT. No classes throughout MIT. No classes throughout MIT.
Displays the color and pattern used on the preceding table to indicate dates when classes are not held at MIT. No classes throughout MIT
Displays the color used on the preceding table to indicate dates when lecture sessions are held. Lecture session
Displays the color used on the preceding table to indicate dates when guest lectures are held. Guest lecture
Displays the symbol used on the preceding table to indicate dates when problem sets were due. Problem set due date
Displays the color used on the preceding table to indicate dates when no class session is scheduled. No class session scheduled
Displays the color used on the preceding table to indicate dates when student presentations. Student presentations
Displays the symbol used on the preceding table to indicate the date when the midterm exam was held. Midterm exam