Weekly Message 9/27/2020

Happy Sunday,

I hope you all have been having a great week and are remaining healthy. It's been a long one, but I was able to get in a few really nice walks (my way of decompressing and destressing; I hope you all have found productive ways to do the same). I thought you might like these photos from the Children's and Healing Gardens on campus. 




There were a few last minute questions regarding the lab, which I answered by email on Saturday. I'm also providing the information here:

You are to analyze the bottled water samples for pH, alkalinity, and total hardness.  You are then to compare your results with the analytical results available on the company's website or on the label.

Separate from that you are to:  Use the data provided for Mountain Spring Water to determine the total hardness (using the concentrations of polyvalent cations), carbonate hardness, non-carbonate hardness. Compare the calculated total hardness to that reported.  Is there a difference? If so, why might that be the case? Draw a bar chart showing the predominant ions present in the bottled water.

Also note that KH (carbonate hardness) is really not carbonate hardness but alkalinity. For more information about this, please see the course blog post on KH test kits.
This week, I will talk more about sampling and this next lab will involve sampling a surface water for nitrate, nitrite, ammonia, phosphate, and pH. You will need to coordinate your sampling with your teammates, so be sure to arrange to meet with them before you begin sampling. 
I will also provide a short overview in ENE 483 tutorial on Tuesday at 10:20 on the FE and PE exams.  Feel free to attend (Zoom link in my email message). I will also record this and post on YouTube. 
I am going to add weekly participation questions to try to maintain better communication with all of you. I did this in ENE 489 in the Spring and am doing it in ENE 483. The first one will open this Friday and will be open all weekend (until Sunday at 11:59 pm). Since I did not include this in the syllabus, they will be extra credit. There will be eight weekly questions (don't worry, they're focused more on how you are doing, creating and maintaining connections than on technical content) for a total of 4% extra credit points (i.e., they can increase your final grade by up to a 0.5 point).  

All the best, 

Dr. Masten

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