INTRODUCTION TO ATMOSPHERIC CHEMISTRY Daniel J. Jacob Harvard University (
[email protected]) January 1999
to be published by Princeton University Press Princeton, New Jersey
FOREWORD This book contains the lectures and problems from the 1-semester course Introduction to Atmospheric Chemistry which I have taught at Harvard since 1992. The course is aimed at undergraduates majoring in the natural sciences or engineering and having had one or two years of college math, chemistry, and physics. My first objective in the course is to show how one can apply simple principles of physics and chemistry to describe a complex system such as the atmosphere, and how one can reduce the complex system to build models. My second objective is to convey a basic but current knowledge of atmospheric chemistry, along with an appreciation for the process of research that led to this knowledge. The book tries to cover the fundamentals of atmospheric chemistry in a logical and organized manner, as can reasonably be done within a 1-semester course. It does not try to be comprehensive; several excellent books are already available for that purpose, and some suggestions for further reading are given at the end of individual chapters. Because lecture time is limited, I leave the applications of many concepts to problems at the end of the chapters. The problems are thus an essential part of the course and I encourage students to work through as many of them as possible. They generally try to tell important stories (many are based on research papers for which reference is given). Numerical solutions are provided at the end of the book. Detailed solution sets are available upon request. The choice of topics reflects my view of priorities for an undergraduate course. The emphasis is squarely