Significant archaeological evidence exists that in 1491, much of the Amazon basin was more aptly described as managed parkland than as jungle.  This evidence also indicates that there were more people were living in urban environments in Amazonia than there were people living in urban environments in Europe.  The decimation of the native peoples which occurred after contact resulted in the growth of the enormous jungle that most people now think of as “the Amazon,” and is a significant factor in the current planetary climate change.  Simple, model-based problems involving stoichiometry, molarity, and solution chemistry that have been used in freshmen-level general chemistry classes to raise awareness of this enormous environmental change are presented, as is student feedback.<br/>

Using models of growth in the Amazon to bring an environmental chemistry topic into the general chemistry class<br />

249th National Meeting (2015)

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