Environmental Chemistry

Environmental Chemistry is concerned with the behaviour of chemicals (natural or man-made) in air, water, soils and sediments. It is an interdisciplinary field at the cross roads of important scientific subjects centred around advanced analytical chemistry. It requires knowledge of fundamental principles of many subject areas, including organic chemistry, soil science, biochemistry, toxicology and ecology.You may think that Environmental Chemistry is mostly about pollution, but really it is a subject for people who want to understand how the world works. That is, in order to understand macroscopic processes in the environment (eg why are polar bears contaminated with mercury), we have to focus on the molecular level.You will learn about the chemistry of organic and inorganic compounds, whether they are produced on purpose or generated as by-products of industrial processes, and about their reactivity and their interactions with living systems.