AGSC 120 - Agricultural Chemistry

• Relate chemical concepts to agriculture including fertilization, pesticide use, animal production and environmental fate of compounds.
• Perform metric and English conversions; use scientific notation; compute atomic and formula masses; differentiate precision from accuracy.
• Identify atoms, subatomic particles, and isotopes; describe the basic chemical nature and behavior of the families on the periodic table.
• Apply the rules of inorganic and organic nomenclature to ions and simple molecules; distinguish ionic from covalent bonding; describe the behavior of solids, liquids and gases in terms of intermolecular forces of attraction.
• Recognize basic chemical reaction types: combustion, acid-base, redox, hydrolysis, nitrification, dentrification, ammonification and condensation
• Apply solution concentrations in a variety of units to agricultural applications; perform dosage calculations involving animal weight, drug concentration and volume; differencitate between osmosis and diffusion.
• Recognize simple organic functional groups.
• Describe the pH behavior of solutions, buffers, and physiologic fluids.
• Match the names and images of biochemical structures discussed in class.
• Demonstrate the safe use of laboratory glassware, equipment and reagents in order to gather data, synthesize and characterize organic molecules, or separate simple biochemical compunds from natural products.

1. Introductions and Scope
2. Measurements and the Metric System
3. Atomic Structures and the Periodic Table
4. Ionic Compounds
5. Atomic Weights, Molecular Weights and Moles
6. Chemical Reactions
7. Solutions, Mixtures, Measurements of Concentration
8. Acids, Base, pH
9. Introduction to Organic Chemistry
10. Saturated Hydrocarbons
11. Unsaturated Hydrocarbons
12. Oxygen Containing Organics
13. Nitrogen Containing Organics
14. Introduction to Biochemistry
15. Applications of Chemistry to Agriculture