This ex
periment enlightens students on the use of environmental indicators and inductively cou
pled
plasma鈥揳tomic emission s
pectrosco
py (ICP鈥揂ES) and demonstrates the ability of these monitoring tools to measure metal de
position in environmental sam
ples (both as a result of lab-simulated and real events). In this two-
part study, the initial ex
periment is designed to simulate the metal
pollutants that originate from s
parklers (small-scale fireworks). Two environmental indicators, surface water and S
panish moss (
Tillandsia usneoides), are ex
posed to a lit s
parkler in a closed container. The S
panish moss is subsequently microwave digested, and both sam
ples are analyzed for 16 elements by ICP鈥揂ES. In
part two, the metal content is analyzed in real sam
ples taken from the environment (to
psoil and surface water) surrounding the
Kennedy S
pace Center (KSC) launch
pads before and after a shuttle launch. Students learn several fundamental conce
pts including atomic s
pectrosco
py, biomonitoring, microwave digestion, matrix interferences, matrix-matching, detection limits, and the standard additions method.
Keywords:
p://pubs.acs.org/action/doSearch?action=search&searchText=Upper%5C-Division+Undergraduate&qsSearchArea=searchText">Upper-Division Undergraduate; p://pubs.acs.org/action/doSearch?action=search&searchText=Analytical+Chemistry&qsSearchArea=searchText">Analytical Chemistry; p://pubs.acs.org/action/doSearch?action=search&searchText=Environmental+Chemistry&qsSearchArea=searchText">Environmental Chemistry; p://pubs.acs.org/action/doSearch?action=search&searchText=Hands%5C-On+Learning%2FManipulatives&qsSearchArea=searchText">Hands-On Learning/Manipulatives; p://pubs.acs.org/action/doSearch?action=search&searchText=Atomic+Spectroscopy&qsSearchArea=searchText">Atomic Spectroscopy; p://pubs.acs.org/action/doSearch?action=search&searchText=Instrumental+Methods&qsSearchArea=searchText">Instrumental Methods; p://pubs.acs.org/action/doSearch?action=search&searchText=Metals&qsSearchArea=searchText">Metals