Hydraulic fracturing is a natural gas extraction technique that uses millions of gallons of water to �frack� each well. Thousands of wells now exist in the regions that overlay the Marcellus Shale. During the first term of an Honors General Chemistry Course, students were assigned a semester-long project that required the creation of a wiki detailing some of the chemical additives used in the fracking process. Students became familiar with the process of hydraulic fracturing and also learned the mechanics of creating a wiki and other online documents. Students were asked to write about the hazards associated with their assigned chemicals and were also encouraged to try and identify suitable environmentally friendly replacements for these chemical additives. Students were required to format their wiki entries with appropriate citations and links to footnotes. Lastly, students produced a reflection paper summarizing their intellectual achievements of the semester to accompany the finished wiki page.

Using a wiki assignment to study hydraulic fracturing in an honors general chemistry class

247th National Meeting (2014)

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.